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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


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The  Continental  Congress 
AT  Princeton 


The  Continental  Congress 
at  princeton 


VARNUM   LANSING    COLLINS 


WITH  A    PORTRAIT  OF   GENERAL    WASHINGTON 
ENGRAVED  BY  SIDNEY   L.  SMITH 


Princeton,  N.  J. 

The  University  Library 

1908 


Copjrright,  1908,  by 
The  Princeton  University  Library 


PRESS  OF 

The  New  Era  printing  company 
Lancaster.  Pa. 


TO 
P.   L.   C. 


PREFACE 

The  Mutiny  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line  in  June,  1783, 
and  the  resulting  session  of  the  Continental  Congress  at 
Princeton  do  not  bulk  large  in  a  general  survey  of  the 
American  Revolution ;  and  accordingly  writers  on  that 
portion  of  American  history  have  given  scarcely  more 
than  passing  mention  to  the  incidents  leading  to  the  flight 
of  Congress  from  Philadelphia,  and  almost  without  excep- 
tion have  dismissed  the  session  at  Princeton  with  few 
words.  But,  on  the  one  hand,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
find  incidents  more  significant  of  the  times  than  those 
which  drove  Congress  from  Philadelphia;  while,  on  the 
other,  many  of  the  scenes  witnessed  at  Princeton  during 
the  session  of  Congress  were  as  memorable,  and  much 
of  the  legislation  there  enacted  was  as  important,  as  any 
immediately  succeeding  the  cessation  of  Revolutionary 
hostilities.  The  inside  history,  moreover,  of  the  efforts 
made  by  the  various  States  to  influence,  in  the  light  of 
the  mutiny,  the  great  debate  at  Princeton  on  the  federal 
residence  question  has  never  received  detailed  consider- 
ation. The  present  volume  then  is,  in  the  first  place,  an 
attempt  to  arrive  at  a  fuller  knowledge  of  the  Congres- 
sional history  of  the  Summer  and  Autumn  of  1783. 

Any  narrative  of  that  history,  however,  if  it  aim  at 
completeness  must  prove  to  be  the  chronicle  of  an  admix- 
ture of  work  and  play.  For  Congressional  life  at  Prince- 
ton was  so  circumstanced  by  local  conditions  and  Congress- 
men absorbed  so  readily  the  social  and  academic  influences 
of  the  genial  Jersey  village  whither  they  had  betaken 
themselves,  that  the  full  story  of  their  daily  doings  finds 
itself  following  a  double  thread.     If  the  representatives 


Viii  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

of  the  United  States  in  Congress  Assembled  debated  the 
weightier  matters  of  the  law  in  the  morning,  they  also 
found  time  in  the  afternoon  to  attend  the  collegiate  Fourth 
of  July  exercises ;  if  they  waxed  eloquent  over  the  Indian 
question  on  the  22d  of  September,  two  days  later  they 
sat  mutely  enough  —  and  at  least  outwardly  calm  — 
through  the  long  oratorical  periods  of  an  academic  com- 
mencement programme.  General  Washington  himself 
could,  with  Thomas  Paine,  turn  from  Congressional 
committee  meetings  to  primitive  experiments  in  natural 
philosophy;  and  His  Excellency  the  Minister  Plenipo- 
tentiary from  the  Netherlands,  once  the  formalities  of  his 
reception  by  Congress  were  over,  found  life  in  govern- 
mental circles  at  Princeton  anything  but  overwhelmed  by 
problems  of  international  diplomacy.  The  second  aim  of 
this  book  then  is  to  afford  a  glimpse  of  Congressional 
informal  life  when  a  Jersey  college  town  was  the  national 
capital.  And  the  peculiarly  close  relation  between  the 
two  threads  of  the  narrative  has  led  me  to  hope  that, 
although  the  merit  of  unity  has  to  a  certain  extent  been 
sacrificed,  yet  the  value  of  an  endeavor  to  contribute, 
however  slightly,  to  the  history  of  the  period  has  not 
been  altogether  destroyed. 

Much  of  the  material  used  has  been  gathered  from 
manuscript  sources  and  in  many  cases  recourse  has  also 
been  had  to  the  originals  of  the  printed  sources.  Perhaps 
it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  quotations  from  the 
manuscripts  invariably  follow  the  originals  in  spelling 
and  punctuation.  The  Journal  of  Congress  is  obviously 
the  basis  of  the  account  of  the  formal  proceedings  at 
Princeton ;  but  by  searching  the  manuscript  Papers  of 
the  Continental  Congress  and  by  examining  all  other 
contemporary  relevant  documents  to  which  access  has 
been  gained,  I  have  sought  to  add  flesh  to  the  Journal's 
bare  bones.     The  sources  of  the  other  side  of  the  story 


PREFACE  IX 

are,  it  is  believed,  sufficiently  indicated  in  the  footnotes. 
Reference  to  the  selected  list  of  authorities  printed  in 
Appendix  VI  will  explain  abbreviated  titles  used  in  these 
footnotes. 

The  first  five  appendixes  may  seem  to  need  justifica- 
tion. They  contain  unpublished  material  which  appeared 
to  be  too  valuable  to  discard  entirely.  Mr.  Boudinot's 
accounts  with  a  local  merchant  throw  light  on  prevalent 
economic  conditions  in  New  Jersey,  or  at  least  one  sec- 
tion of  it ;  lists  of  citizens  such  as  the  signers  of  the  two 
addresses  to  Congress  have  distinct  local  and  genealogical 
value ;  and  it  seemed  worth  while  to  rescue  from  oblivion 
the  memory  of  the  Reverend  Dr.  Thomas  Wren,  of  Ports- 
mouth, England,  whose  honorary  degree  from  Princeton 
was  in  direct  recognition  of  his  generous  services  to 
American  Revolutionary  prisoners  and  was  conferred 
practically  at  the  suggestion  of  Congress.  The  two 
Commencement  orations  are  reprinted  because  of  the 
unique  occasion  on  which  they  were  delivered,  because 
of  their  frank  allusion  to  the  distinguished  visitors  who 
honored  that  occasion  by  their  presence,  and  because 
incidentally  they  are  characteristic  examples  of  eighteenth 
century  American  college  oratory. 

My  obligations  are  many.  For  their  permission  to 
avail  myself  of  the  collections  which  they  administer  I 
am  indebted  to  Mr.  Herbert  Putnam,  Librarian  of  Con- 
gress, to  Mr.  Andrew  H.  Allen,  late  Superintendent  of 
the  Library  of  the  State  Department,  Washington,  D.  C, 
and  to  Mr.  Wilberforce  Eames,  Librarian  of  the  Lenox 
Library,  New  York  City ;  and  1  would  be  ungrateful  to 
forget  that  the  late  Dr.  Gregory  B.  Keen  permitted  the 
use  of  certain  manuscripts  in  the  Library  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Historical  Society,  and  that  the  officials  of  Harvard 
College  Library  and  of  the  New  York  State  Library  at 
Albany  have  shown  me  many  courtesies.    To  Mr.  Worth- 


X  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

ington  C.  Ford,  Chief  of  the  Division  of  Manuscripts, 
Library  of  Congress,  are  due  my  hearty  thanks  for  proof- 
reading Appendixes  II  and  III  with  the  original  docu- 
*P\  ments  when  unaiivoidable  circumstances  prevented  my 
own  performance  of  that  irksome  task;  and  I  am  par- 
ticularly glad  to  acknowledge  the  valuable  help  given  at 
various  times  by  my  friend  and  former  colleague  Mr. 
Wm.  Warner  Bishop,  now  Superintendent  of  the  Read- 
ing Room,  Library  of  Congress. 

My  chief  general  indebtedness  however  is  to  Mr. 
Stanislaus  Murray  Hamilton,  formerly  of  the  Bureau  of 
Rolls  and  Library  in  the  State  Department  at  Washing- 
ton. To  his  intimate  knowledge  of  the  manuscripts  ot 
the  Continental  Congress  so  long  under  his  curatorship, 
and  now  in  the  Library  of  Congress,  to  his  ready  and 
sympathetic  interest  and  to  his  unfailingly  generous  and 
scholarly  assistance  I  am  under  lasting  obligations. 

The  painting  of  "Prospect,"  Colonel  George  Morgan's 
home  at  Princeton,  now  for  the  first  time  published,  is 
owned  by  Mrs.  Hughes  Oliphant,  of  Washington,  D.  C. 
It  is  a  pleasure  to  express  my  appreciation  of  her  permis- 
sion to  use  this  interesting  picture. 

V.  L.  C. 

Princeton,  N.  J., 
November  20,  1907, 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Army  and  the  Furlough  Orders  .         .         .       i 


II.  The  Mutiny  and  Congress     .... 

III.  Public  Opinion  and  the  Flight  of  Congress 

IV.  New  Jersey's  Reception  of  her  Visitors 
V.  The  Princeton  Session  begins 

VI.  Washington  is  called  to  Princeton 
VII.  Princeton  in  1783  . 

VIII.  The  Summer's  Debates  ..... 
IX.  Congress  at  Commencement  .... 

X.  The  Residence  Debate 

XI.  The  Beginning  of  the  End    .... 
XII.  The  Dutch  Minister  arrives 

XIII.  The  End  of  the  Session        .... 

XIV.  A  Retrospect  ...... 

Appendix     I.  President    Boudinot's  Account  with   Thomas 
Stockton,  of  Princeton 
II.  Signers   of    the    Quaker    Memorial    to    Con 
gress  ...... 

III.  Signers  of  the   Philadelphia  Address  to  Con 

gress         ...... 

IV.  Boudinot-Wren  Correspondence 

V.  Orations   delivered  before   Congress   at   Com 

mencement        ..... 
VI.  List  of  Principal  Sources  and  Authorities 

Index       


9 

30 
41 
60 

94 
113 
137 

155 
167 

193 
216 

237 
244 

255 
259 

263 
270 

272 
278 

281 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

General  Washington,  By  Charles  W.  Peale, 

Engraved  by  Sidney  L.  Smith       .  .  .         Frontispiece. 

Proclamation  Adjourning  Congress  to  Princeton  facing    28 

Colonel  George  Morgan's  Letter  Offering  "Prospect  " 
TO  Congress  .........     44 

Letter  Offering  Nassau  Hall  to  Congress      .         .         -47 

John  Cape's  Offer  to  Cater  for  Congress        .         .         -5© 

**  Prospect  "  [from  a  painting  by  Maria  Templeton]     facing     56 

Report  on  Design  of  a  Statue  of  General  Washington    .     98 

Report  on  Design  of  a  Statue  of  General  Washington 
{^second  leaf)  .........     99 

"Rockingham,"  General  Washington's  Headquarters   .   103 

"Nassau  Hall"  [from  the  engraving  by  Dawkins]       facing  113 

Mrs.  Richard   Stockton's  Verses  to  General  Washing- 
ton         133 

General  Washington  on  the  Peace  Establishment   .         .139 

John  Witherspoon  [from  the  engraving  by  Trotter]      facing  160 

Elias  Boudinot  [from  the  engraving  by  Durand]  .         facing  186 

Princeton  Statement  of  Accommodations  for  Congress     .198 

Princeton  Statement  of  Accommodations  for   Congress 
{second  leaf)  ........   199 

James  Madison  [from  the  engraving  by  Leney]     .         facing  223 


xiu 


The  Continental  Congress 
AT  Princeton 


CHAPTER   I 

THE  ARMY  AND  THE  FURLOUGH  ORDERS 

On  the  afternoon  of  Sunday,  March  23,  1783,  the  '*  Tri- 
omphe,"  a  French  sloop  of  war  under  command  of  Chev- 
alier Duquesne,  dropped  anchor  off  Philadelphia  after  a 
seven  weeks'  voyage  from  Cadiz.  She  had  been  sent  by 
the  Marquis  de  Lafayette  with  a  special  dispatch  to  Elias 
Boudinot,  President  of  the  Continental  Congress,  then 
sitting  at  Philadelphia.  This  letter  of  less  than  a  hun- 
dred words  contained,  as  Lafayette  had  hoped,  the  first 
authentic  information  received  in  America  that  a  general 
treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed  and  that  the  War  of  the 
Revolution  was  at^kti-cTt^. 

The  news  was  not  unexpected ;  for,  eleven  days  earlier, 
the  packet  "Washington"  had  arrived  with  dispatches 
announcing  the  signing  of  preliminary  articles  of  peace 
by  the  representatives  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States;  and  although  some  men,  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  himself  among  them,  feared  that  warfare  was  not 
yet  over,  nevertheless  the  conclusion  of  a  general  treaty 
was  very  confidently  believed  to  be  forthcoming. 

Lafayette's  communication  was  not  official,  but  of  its 
authoritativeness  there  could  be  no  doubt ;  and  in  order 
that  his  "fellow  citizens  of  the  army"  might  receive 
* '  the  earliest  notice  of  this  glorious  end  of  all  their  Toils 


2  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT  PRINCETON 

and  Labours,"  ^  Mr  Boudinot  that  Sunday  evening  hurried 
off  a  letter  to  General  Washington,  in  camp  with  the  main 
army  at  Newburgh  on  the  Hudson,  to  put  him  in  posses- 
sion of  the  glad  news  that  had  sent  a  thrill  of  joy  through 
the  calm  of  a  Quaker  Sabbath. 

Seldom,  however,  has  such  news  been  received  by  a 
battle-scarred  army  with  less  evident  signs  of  satisfaction 
than  this  by  the  American  troops  at  large.  Not  that  peace 
was  unwelcome ;  none  knew  better  than  the  soldiers  of  the 
Revolution  the  real  hardships  of  war.  But  to  them  the 
formal  cessation  of  hostilities  and  the  signing  of  a  treaty 
of  peace  had  a  more  serious  import  than  merely  the  end 
of  active  military  service,  even  though  that  meant  to 
many  the  sweetness  of  return  to  home  and  family  after 
years  of  absence  and  separation.  They  knew  that  Con- 
gress was  anxious  to  rid  itself  of  the  expense  of  their 
maintenance ;  that  furthermore  American  national  senti- 
ment—  if  any  existed  —  was  instinctively  opposed  to  a 
standing  army ;  and  they  realized  that  their  speedy  dis- 
bandment,  the  next  logical  step,  was  a  foregone  conclu- 
sion. Had  their  condition  and  temper  been  other  than 
they  were,  disbandment  would  have  been  accepted  as  a 
natural  sequel  to  the  return  of  peace.  But  arrearages  of 
years'  standing  in  rations  and  clothing  and  many  months' 
back  pay  were  owing  them.  Promise  after  promise  had 
been  made  and  broken ;  month  after  month  had  gone  by 
since  Cornwallis  was  taken  ;  the  main  army  had  returned 
north,  and  at  Newburgh  had  gone  into  encampment; 
another  long  winter  of  discontent  had  been  spent,  and 
yet  the  settlement  of  the  country's  financial  debt  to  the 
army  seemed  to  be  as  far  away  as  ever.  The  officers 
complained  that  shadows  had  been  offered  to  them  while 
the  substance  had  been  gleaned  by  others ;  they  had  borne 
all  that  men  could  bear ;  their  property  was  gone,  their 

^Boudinot,  Vol.  i,  p.  302. 


THE  ARMY  AND  THE  FURLOUGH  ORDERS       3 

private  means  exhausted,  and  their  friends  wearied  with 
their  incessant  applications  for  relief ;  they  had  struggled 
with  their  difficulties  year  after  year  in  the  vain  hope 
that  each  would  be  the  last,  and  now  their  embarrass- 
ments were  thickening  so  fast  that  many  of  them  were 
able  to  go  no  further/  As  for  the  rank  and  file  —  ill-fed, 
ill-clad,  ill-shod  —  their  uneasiness  was  notorious,  and 
had  become  dangerous;  their  patience  was  so  nearly 
spent  that  any  further  test  of  it  might  have  instant  fatal 
result.  It  mattered  little  whether  their  grievances  were 
the  result  chiefly  of  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  States,  or, 
as  Washington  believed  and  we  know,  were  due  to  the 
intrinsic  faultiness  of  the  confederation  under  whose  arti- 
cles the  States  were  associated.  Disbandment  stared  them 
in  the  face,  and  they  asked  one  another  in  vain  how  they 
would  get  their  due  when  once  disbanded.  Soldiers  who 
had  retired  from  the  army  on  the  basis  of  half  pay  for 
life,  offered  by  Congressional  resolution  of  October,  1780, 
had  become  objects  of  obloquy,  and  public  clamor  had 
arisen  against  even  this  mode  of  settlement.  The  more 
the  army  had  grumbled  the  more  unpopular  it  had  be- 
come ;  the  lower  it  fell  in  public  esteem  the  more  des- 
perate it  grew. 

The  astute  author  of  the  Newburgh  Addresses,  Major 
John  Armstrong,  had  fingered  the  pulse  of  his  audience 
before  he  hinted  at  old  age  in  poverty,  wretchedness  and 
contempt  as  the  probable  reward  of  a  soldiery  with  no 
marks  of  military  distinction  save  want,  infirmities,  and 
fears.  Except  on  ethical  grounds  it  is  difficult  to  blame 
the  feeling  that  the  time  seemed  ripe  for  a  demon- 
stration which  should  compel  the  States  to  relieve  a  situa- 
tion all  the  more  galling  because  it  was  of  their  making. 
The  people  in  general  appeared  to  have  no  desire  to 
help  the  army  ;  Congress  could  not ;  and  viewing  matters 

*  Address  of  the  officers  to  Congress,  Journal,  April  26th,  1783. 


4  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

solely  from  the  standpoint  of  the  enlisted  men  there  truly 
seemed  to  be  nothing  else  to  do.  And  such  indeed  had 
been  the  avowed  purpose  of  the  Newburgh  Addresses. 
How  Washington's  tremendous  personality  turned  the 
tables  xyTi  that  ominous  occasion  does  not  require  repetition 
here.  The  story  has  been  told  a  score  of  times.  In  re- 
sponse to  his  appeal,  Congress  on  March  22d  agreed  to  com- 
mute half-pay  for  life  into  full  pay  for  five  years.  The 
next  afternoon,  Sunday  the  23d,  the  "  Triomphe  "  reached 
Philadelphia,  and  President  Boudinot  in  his  letter  to 
Washington  that  night  took  the  opportunity  to  inform 
him  also  of  the  Commutation  Act. 

The  army  heard  the  news  in  silence,  and  sullenly  waited 
for  the  next  step.  The  probability  of  disbandment  with- 
out settlement  had  already  made  it  difficult  to  maintain 
discipline,  as  Washington  himself  admitted,^  and  the  frag- 
mentary manner  in  which  the  intelligence  of  peace  had 
reached  the  army  only  strengthened  the  suspicion  that 
dispatches  had  from  time  to  time  been  held  back  from 
the  troops  with  a  view  to  keeping  them  in  service  beyond 
their  enlisted  period.  So  strong  was  the  feeling  thus 
produced  that,  before  publishing  in  camp  the  proclama- 
tion issued  by  Congress  on  April  nth  announcing  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities  on  land  and  sea,  Washington  called  a 
full  council  of  his  officers  to  consider  the  advisability  of 
suppressing  the  document,  an  action  which  would  have 
been  so  impolitic  that  it  is  strange  that  he  should  have 
considered  it.  The  council  decided  unanimously  that  it 
would  be  less  risky  to  publish  the  proclamation ;  and 
accordingly  Washington  issued  general  orders  that  it  be 
read  in  public  the  next  day  at  noon.  The  orders  bear 
marks  of  particularly  careful  composition ;  they  remind 
the  troops  of  their  peculiarly  honorable  position  as  the 
patriot  army,  and  of  the  important  part  they  had  played 

'Washington  to  Boudinot,  April  i8tb,  Sparks,  Vol.  8,  p.  421. 


THE  ARMY  AND  THE  FURLOUGH  ORDERS       5 

in  the  struggle  for  independence,  and  they  point  out  that 
now  there  remains  to  them  as  the  "  actors  in  this  mighty 
scene"  nothing  but  "to  preserve  a  perfect  unvarying 
consistency  of  character  through  the  very  last  act,  to 
close  the  drama  with  applause,  and  to  retire  from  the 
military  theatre  with  the  same  approbation  of  angels  and 
men  which  has  crowned  all  their  former  actions."^  After 
this  rhetorical  flight  Washington  closed  his  paragraph 
with  the  abrupt  remark  that,  meanwhile,  no  military  neg- 
lects or  excesses  would  go  unpunished  as  long  as  he 
retained  command  of  the  army.  It  was  further  ordered! 
that  an  extra  ration  of  liquor  be  issued  to  every  man  \ 
wherewith  "to  drihk  perpetual  independencegjid-4Tappi- ^ 


ience^gjid-'] 
T5necanno 


ness  to  jthfiJJiHtcd''SHtes  of  America.'  One  cannot  help 
suspecting  that  the  next  day,  when  the  soldiers  gave  three 
huzzas  after  the  reading  of  the  orders  and  the  proclama- 
tion, it  must  have  been  a  question  in  the  minds  of  the  by 
standers  ivhfth°r  tl^ti  rhf^rn-rv  IH  r^rrnr  pftit^f  ftf  t 
rum.  The  further  approbation  of  men  and  angels,  how 
ever  valuable  in  the  abstract,  would  have  been  earned  b 
the  troops  so  much  less  perfunctorily  had  a  little  hard 
cash  been  distributed  with  the  liquor. 

Meanwhile  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  i8th,  in  a  determined 
effort  to  raise  money  Congress  had  proposed  further  tax- 
ation,and  a  week  later,  April  26th,  issued  an  address  to  the 
States  wherein  was  contained  a  direct  appeal  in  behalf  of 
the  army.  On  May  2d  Alexander  Hamilton  moved  that 
inasmuch  as  it  was  the  desire  of  Congress  to  enable  offi- 
cers and  soldiers  to  return  ' '  with  convenience  and  sat- 
isfaction "  when  the  time  came  for  a  reduction  of  the 
army,  and  inasmuch  as  it  would  therefore  be  necessary  to 
advance  them  a  part  of  their  pay,  the  States  be  earnestly 
urged  to  make  every  effort  in  their  power  to  forward  the 
collection  of  taxes  in  order  that  Congress  might  relieve 

»  Sparks,  Vol.  8,  p.  568. 


6  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

"the  necessities  of  a  meritorious  army."  But  it  was 
money,  not  motions,  that  the  meritorious  army  sorely 
needed;  and  it  watched  its  unsatisfied  dissolution  ap- 
proaching step  by  step.  Congress  indeed  had  done  all 
in  its  puny  power  to  relieve  the  troops ;  for  weeks,  as 
Mr.  Boudinot  wrote  to  Washington,  it  had  been  "most 
faithfully  and  honestly  engaged  in  laying  a  foundation  for 
their  future  security  as  well  as  making  provision  for  a 
present  supply."  More,  he  said,  was  not  in  its  power; 
and  he  hoped  that  the  soldiers  would  not  in  this  last  hour 
dishonor  themselves  and  forfeit  their  hard-earned  glory 
by  violent  measures.  They  should  not  think  themselves 
the  only  sufferers;  the  burden  was  also  heavy  on  the 
shoulders  of  the  members  of  Congress,  and  not  a  man  in 
the  army  would  envy  the  latter  their  position  were  he  to 
be  one  week  in  their  place.* 

The  belief  nevertheless  had  been  steadily  growing  in 
Congressional  circles  that  it  was  high  time  to  begin  the 
reduction  of  the  forces ;  and,  if  for  no  other  reason  than 
to  curtail  expenses,  on  May  26th  a  motion  framed  by  Mr. 
Hamilton  was  agreed  to,  instructing  Washington  to  grant 
furloughs  to  non-commissioned  officers  and  men  enlisted 
to  serve  during  the  war  who  would  be  discharged  as  soon 
as  a  definitive  treaty  of  peace  were  concluded ;  and  the 
Secretary  at  War,  together  with  the  Commander-in- 
Chief,  was  directed  to  take  proper  measures  for  conduct- 
ing such  troops  to  their  respective  homes  in  such  manner 
as  might  be  most  convenient  to  themselves  and  the  States 
through  which  they  should  pass.  And  acting  on  a  tact- 
ful suggestion  made  some  time  previously  by  Washing- 
ton, the  furloughed  men  were  allowed  to  carry  home 
their  arms  and  accoutrements.  The  resolution  of  the 
26th  of  May  had  been  adopted  on  grounds  of  economy, 
and  Washington  lost  no  time  in  issuing  on  June  2d  the 

1  Boudinot,  Vol.  I,  p.  300. 


THE  ARMY  AND  THE  FURLOUGH  ORDERS       7 

necessary  orders  to  the  commanders  of  the  different  corps 
of  the  army. 

The  officers  at  Newburgh,  however,  resolved  to  make 
one  more  effort  to  secure  public  action,  and  appointed  a 
committee  to  draft  an  address  to  Washington  entreating 
that  the  orders  be  suspended  or  altered  so  that  no  officer 
or  private  be  compelled  to  accept  furlough  until  some 
settlement  of  accounts  had  been  reached,  balances  struck, 
and  certificates  of  amounts  due  had  been  given  including 
commutation  for  officers  and  the  gratuity  for  privates. 
By  the  furlough  orders  they  found  themselves  forced  to 
leave  the  army  without  means  of  defraying  debts  incurred 
during  service,  or  even  paying  their  petty  obligations  to 
their  servants,  much  less  of  carrying  home  to  their 
families  that  support  of  which  long  military  service  had 
deprived  them.  Exposed  as  they  were  to  the  insults  of 
the  meanest  camp-follower  no  less  than  to  arrest  by  the 
sheriff,  they  pointed  out  that  the  furlough  orders  were 
sending  them  home  without  means,  and  without  the 
smallest  prospect  of  obtaining  credit  until  they  could  get 
into  business ;  and  they  begged  therefore  that  the  orders 
be  suspended  or  that  money  be  given  them  sufficient 
to  let  them  start  for  home  honorably. 

Washington  was  deeply  moved  by  their  confidence  in 
him  and  assured  them  that  no  one  was  more  cognizant 
of  their  distress  than  himself ;  and,  while  reminding  them 
that  he  was  after  all  only  a  public  servant  and  as  much 
under  orders  as  they,  he  nevertheless  agreed  to  alter  the 
orders  to  the  extent  of  permitting  as  many  of  the  *  *  war- 
men,"  i.  e.,  those  enlisted  for  the  war,  as  did  not  wish 
furlough  to  report  to  the  adjutant-general,  so  that  an 
equal  number  of  the  three-year  men  might  be  furloughed 
in  their  place,  and  thus  the  main  object  of  the  resolution 
—  the  reduction  of  expenses  —  might  still  be  fulfilled. 

This  reply  and  this  act,  together  with  Washington's  evi- 


8  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

dently  sincere  sympathy,  were  sufficient  to  stifle  any 
expression  of  bitterness  that  the  furlough  order  may  have 
engendered  at  the  Newburgh  camp.  But  elsewhere  were 
quickened  the  seeds  of  resentment  already  sown ;  and 
their  sudden  harvest  Congress  was  to  reap  before  the 
month  had  passed.  The  story  of  that  harvest  and  its 
sequel,  —  of  the  mutiny  of  the  troops  at  Lancaster  and 
Philadelphia,  of  the  ignominious  flight  of  Congress  from 
the  city  which  had  been  its  home  for  five  consecutive 
years,  to  a  small  but  already  historic  Jersey  village  ten 
miles  beyond  the  Delaware,  and  of  the  five  months 
sojourn  of  Congress  in  that  village  —  is  the  story  con- 
tained in  this  volume. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   MUTINY  AND   CONGRESS 

At  the  Philadelphia  barracks  were  quartered  three 
companies  of  the  Twentieth  Pennsylvania  Infantry  and 
one  of  artillery,  composed  chiefly  of  recruits,  of  whom 
the  majority  had  been  enlisted  but  five  months  at  most 
and  had  seen  no  more  arduous  service  than  employment 
as  guards  for  British  prisoners.  With  them  were  also  a 
number  of  veterans  whose  participation  in  the  mutiny  of 
1 78 1  had  Igftan  ugly  stain  on  theirjxcof^ — TKerecruits 
imagined  themselves  worse  off  than  they  really  were ; 
the  veterans  had  had  experience  in  revolt;  all  were 
discontented  with  the  present  and  fearful  of  the  future. 
Many  had  received^  no  pay-^incc^TTecember  and  they 
scented  danger  in  the  proposals  of  furlough,  and  viewed 
with  distrust  any  fresh  promise  of  payment.  Knowing 
their  disposition.  General  Arthur  St.  Clair,  who  was  sta- 
tioned at  Philadelphia,  wrote  to  the  Paymaster  General, 
John  Pierce,  on  request  of  Robert  Morris,  Superintendent 
of  Finance,  asking  him  to  come  to  Philadelphia  or  send 
some  one  in  his  stead  to  make  a  settlement ;  and  he  re- 
ceived the  answer  that  Pierce  himself  would  arrive  in  a 
few  days.  But  the  Paymaster  General  failed  to  appear, 
for  the  reason,  assigned  later,  that  the  army  ledgers  were 
all  at  Newburgh.^  On  May  30th  and  June  2d  St.  Clair 
called  on  Morris  to  ask  for  the  share  of  pay  due  to  the 
troops  under  his  command,  but  was  met  each  time  with 
the  obvious  answer  that  preferences  could  not  be  made 
and  that  his  men  would  receive  their  share  with  the  rest 
of  the  army.''     Meanwhile  all  had  to  wait  until  the  neces- 

*  Letters  of  Washington,  63,  folio  287. 

*  Morris*  Diary,  May  30th  and  June  2d. 

9 


lO  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

sary  paper  money  should   be  prepared,   adequate  cash 
being  out  of  the  question. 

On  the  night  of  June  12th  there  were  added  to  the 
Philadelphia  troops  about  two  hundred  furloughed  men 
of  the  Maryland  Line  on  their  way  home.  This  acces- 
sion of  numbers,  coupled  almost  certainly  with  civilian 
instigation  and  with  the  news  of  the  protest  against 
furloughs  without  pay  addressed  to  Washington  a  week 
before  at  Newburgh  by  his  officers,  led  the  malcontents 
at  the  Philadelphia  barracks  to  decide  on  bold  measures. 
On  the  13th,  just  as  General  St.  Clair  was  about  to  issue 
orders  conforming  to  Washington's  instructions,  the  ser- 
geants got  together  and  drew  up  a  remonstrance  which 
was  delivered  to  Congress  that  day.  This  document  has 
disappeared  from  its  place  among  the  papers  of  the  Con- 
tinental Congress;  but  from  a  letter  to  Edmund  Ran- 
dolph written  by  James  Madison  ^  a  few  days  later  (June 
1 7th),  we  learn  that  it  described  the  hardships  the  soldiery 
had  endured  for  their  country's  cause,  declared  it  to  be 
their  country's  duty  to  grant  them  satisfaction  and  ended 
by  demanding  that  Congress  give  a  satisfactory  answer 
before  night,  or  they  would  not  be  responsible  for  the 
consequences.  To  this  **  very  turbulent  and  indecent  "  * 
address  Congress  made  no  reply,  but  General  St.  Clair 
and  Benjamin  Lincoln,  Secretary  at  War,  immediately 
went  among  the  men  and  by  adopting  what  Madison 
called  "prudent  and  soothing  measures,"  succeeded  in 
allaying  their  fears.  President  Boudinot,  General  St. 
Clair,  and  Nathaniel  Gorham  and  Thomas  Fitzsimmons, 
members  of  Congress,  came  to  tell  Robert  Morris  of  the 
mutinous  disposition  of  the  troops  and  to  seek  reassurance, 
and  they  particularly  informed  him  of  the  morning's  re- 
monstrance.    But  the  Financier  could  give  them  no  sat- 

*  Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  i,  p.  548.     Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  i,  p.  478. 
«  Boudinot  to  the  American  Ministers  at  Paris.     Wharton,  Vol.  6,  p.  546. 


THE   MUTINY   AND    CONGRESS  II 

isfaction ;  he  frankly  replied  that  he  had  planned  to  go 
to  Bethlehem  that  evening  to  visit  his  assistant,  Gouver- 
neur  Morris ;  he  had  not  the  money  wherewith  to  pay 
the  soldiers  and  therefore  saw  no  reason  for  cancelling 
his  engagement  and  remaining  in  the  city  even  though 
the  soldiers  should  mutiny.^ 

No  official  notice  was  taken  of  the  remonstrance  of  the 
sergeants  and  St.  Clair  issued  orders  that  pay-rolls  for 
February,  March,  and  April,  and  returns  of  the  number 
of  men  and  the  length  of  their  enlistment  should  be  made, 
and  that  commanding  officers  should  send  for  as  many 
furloughs  as  would  be  needed.  Application  for  warrants 
based  on  the  pay-rolls  was  to  be  made  at  the  War  Office, 
where  they  would  be  honored  in  notes  signed  by  Robert 
Morris.  At  this  the  restlessness  of  the  troops  was  re- 
newed, the  absence  of  any  reference  to  pay  for  January 
being  the  immediate  cause.  Later  in  the  day  a  second 
order  from  the  Commander-in-Chief  was  posted  by  St. 
Clair,  calling  for  lists  of  all  those  who  declined  furloughs. 
The  omission  of  the  January  pay  seems  to  have  been 
accidental,  for  on  the  17th  further  orders  were  issued 
that  the  payment  for  January  should  be  in  cash  and  that 
of  the  other  three  months  in  Morris'  notes.  This  change 
the  soldiers  thought  to  be  a  result  of  the  sergeants'  re- 
monstrance already  mentioned  and  according  to  Colonel 
Richard  Humpton,  commanding  the  barracks,  they  ex- 
ulted in  what  they  considered  a  victory,  and  began  to 
refuse  to  obey  their  officers.  Even  then  the  situation 
might  have  been  saved  had  not  an  unfortunate  order  from 
the  Paymaster  General's  department  come  to  the  artill- 
ery paymaster  as  he  was  disbursing  his  cash.  He  was 
directed  to  give  to  those  who  declined  furloughs  only 
their  January  pay,^  and  at  this  murmurings    broke  out 

*  Morris'  Diary,  June  13th. 

^  There  seems  to  have  been  a  misunderstanding  about  the  matter.  On  June 
7th,  when  he  was  giving  Philip  Audibert,  Assistant  Paymaster  General,  $50,000 


12  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

noisily.  It  now  became  apparent  that  the  situation  had 
suddenly  grown  critical.  There  was  but  little  doubt  in 
the  minds  of  many  members  of  Congress  that  more  than 
mere  discontent  lay  behind  the  attitude  of  the  troops. 
That  private  individuals,  whose  names  have  been  success- 
fully concealed,  but  who  as  public  creditors  were  ill 
affected  toward  the  government  because  of  unpaid  and 
overdue  interest  on  certificates,  were  conniving  at  this 
discontent,  if  not  actually  encouraging  it,  was  clearly  the 
opinion  of  men  like  Benjamin  Hawkins  and  Hugh 
Williamson,  of  North  Carolina,  Elias  Boudinot,  of  New 
Jersey,  Colonel  Richard  Butler,  of  Lancaster,  and  Gen- 
eral St.  Clair,  of  Philadelphia.  The  tone  of  Madison's 
correspondence  on  the  situation  also  implies  the  existence 
of  outside  influences,  and  Washington  broadly  intimated 
his  belief  in  this  partial  explanation  of  the  army's  distem- 
per. On  the  other  hand,  we  have  the  sworn  affidavit  of 
James  Bennett,  a  sergeant  major  in  the  artillery,  to  the 
effect  that  early  in  June  he  had  been  approached  one  day 
at  the  "Doctor  Franklin"  tavern,  on  Second  Street, 
Philadelphia,  by  two  officers.  Captain  Henry  Carberry  * 

worth  of  the  notes  he  had  been  signing,  Morris  told  him  to  advise  Paymaster  Pierce 
to  pay  only  those  who  had  accepted  furloughs,  his  reason  apparently  being  that  he 
would  not  have  notes  enough  for  all  ;  but  when  Major  Jackson  called  ten  days 
later  to  enquire  on  behalf  of  General  St.  Clair  and  General  Lincoln,  whether  the 
pay  then  being  distributed  was  for  furloughed  men  only,  Morris  said  it  was  not 
(Diary  June  7th  and  17th). 

^  Henry  Carberry  was  the  son  of  Mary  Carberry,  of  St.  Mary's  County,  Mary- 
land. He  entered  the  army  in  January,  1777,  as  a  first  lieutenant  in  Hartley's 
Additional  Continental  Regiment,  becoming  captain  in  November,  1778.  In 
August,  1779,  he  was  wounded  in  battle,  and  retired  from  service  in  1 78 1.  In 
1784  he  returned  from  Europe  whither  he  had  fled  after  the  mutiny,  and  was 
arrested  at  Baltimore,  and  brought  to  jail  at  Annapolis.  He  confessed  his  guilt 
and  begged  for  mercy.  His  subsequent  record  was  unimpeachable.  In  1791  he 
became  a  captain  in  General  St,  Clair's  Levies,  and  in  March,  1792,  a  captain  in 
the  U.  S.  Infantry.  In  February,  1794,  he  resigned.  He  served  as  Colonel  of 
the  thirty-sixth  U.  S.  Infantry  from  March,  1813,  to  March,  1815,  and  died  May 
26,  1822.     (Papers  Continental  Congress,  38,  pp.  209-211,  and  Heitman.) 


THE    MUTINY   AND    CONGRESS  1 3 

and  John  Sullivan.^  The  latter  asked  him  if  the  soldiers 
were  expecting  speedy  settlement.  When  Bennett  re- 
plied affirmatively,  he  was  informed  that  he  and  his  com- 
rades were  deceiving  themselves ;  that  they  were  to  be 
dismissed  without  any  settlement  whatsoever.  "But," 
continued  Sullivan,  "  if  you  will  assemble  the  troops  un- 
der arms  and  be  headed  by  us,  we  will  take  you  where 
you'll  get  every  farthing."  And  Carberry  and  Sullivan 
always  claimed  that  they  were  the  sole  originators  and 
prime  movers  of  this  mutiny ;  but  so  far  as  the  present 
writer  has  been  able  to  discover,  no  statement  of  their 
plans  has  been  preserved. 

Meanwhile  at  the  Lancaster  barracks  a  more  acute  con- 
dition was  confronting  the  authorities.  Colonel  Richard 
Butler,  of  the  Third  Pennsylvania,  in  command  of  the 
barracks,  had  promptly  complied  with  General  St.  Clair's 
revised  orders,  but  on  the  morning  of  the  17th  his  ser- 
geants called  on  him  and  informed  him  that  they  had  de- 
termined to  go  to  Philadelphia  to  obtain  justice.  They 
said  they  wanted  not  furloughs  but  settlement,  and  they 
desired  to  be  kept  in  active  service  until  settlement  was 
complete.  He  reasoned  with  them  and  they  dispersed  ap- 
parently satisfied ;  but  he  soon  heard  that  they  were  pre- 
paring to  leave  Lancaster.  With  Colonel  Samuel  Attlee 
and  the  other  officers  in  the  town,  he  hastened  to  the 

^  John  Sullivan  belonged  to  a  wealthy  Irish  family,  and  through  sheer  admira- 
tion of  the  principles  for  which  the  colonies  were  fighting  came  by  way  of  France, 
in  1779,  to  enter  American  service.  In  September  of  that  year  he  joined  General 
Stephen  Moylan's  Fourth  Regiment  of  Light  Dragoons  as  a  cornet,  receiving  a  cap- 
taincy the  next  month.  He  served  through  the  war,  and  Moylan  testified  later 
that  he  did  not  know  of  "  an  officer  who  conducted  himself  with  more  honor  and 
spirit. ' '  When  the  Dragoons  of  the  Fourth  Regiment  were  disbanded,  Sullivan 
had  his  accounts  made,  and  on  the  issuance  of  the  furlough  order  of  May  26th  he 
obtained  leave  of  absence,  and  soon  thereafter  turned  up  with  Carberry  in  connec- 
tion with  the  mutiny.  In  1785  he  endeavored  to  get  his  back  pay,  but  his  military 
record  was  closed  on  June  27th,  1786,  when  the  damning  words  "left  service 
without  leave  "  were  placed  against  his  name.  (Pap.  Cent.  Cong.  38,  pp.  79, 
209,  215,  andHeitman.) 


14  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT  PRINCETON 

parade  ground  and  gathering  the  men  around  him  made 
a  speech.  He  told  them  that  measures  had  been  taken 
for  closing  their  accounts  even  before  the  orders  of  the 
17th  arrived;  he  reminded  them  that  returns  had  been 
called  for  of  those  who  accepted  furloughs  and  those  who 
did  not;  returns  for  clothing  had  also  been  ordered, 
together  with  pay-rolls  for  January  to  be  settled  in  cash 
and  pay-rolls  for  February,  March,  and  April  to  be  settled 
in  Morris'  notes,  with  assurance  of  quarters  and  provi- 
sions until  the  order  was  fulfilled.  This  offer  he  repeated, 
and  at  the  same  time  pointed  out  the  impossibility  of  com- 
pleting the  rolls  away  from  the  place  where  the  men  were 
stationed ;  and  he  urged  them  to  remain  at  Lancaster  in 
obedience  to  their  officers. 

But  these  sensible  words  fell  on  deaf  ears.  Carberry 
and  Sullivan  had  been  sending  letters  to  the  sergeants, 
insinuating  that  the  government  was  intentionally  delay- 
ing payment  with  the  purpose  of  ultimate  repudiation, 
and  assuring  them  that  the  only  way  in  which  they  could 
secure  their  back-pay  was  to  come  to  Philadelphia  and 
demand  it.  The  fact  that  these  letters  were  anonymous 
had  not  lessened  their  effectiveness.  Colonel  Butler's 
speech  was  sniffed  at,  and  at  half-past  eight  that  morning 
(June  17th),  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  men  started 
for  Philadelphia  under  the  leadership  of  a  sergeant  named 
Nagle.  They  went  fully  armed,  with  ammunition  and 
field-pieces,  and  grapeshot  in  plenty. 

Colonel  Butler,  on  consultation  with  his  officers,  de- 
cided to  send  representatives  after  them  to  try  to  induce 
them  to  return.  Captains  Walker,  Montgomery,  and 
Chrystie  were  appointed  to  the  task,  and  Lieutenant  E. 
Butler  was  sent  on  to  Philadelphia  to  deliver  to  President 
Dickinson  of  the  State  Council  the  following  letter  from 
Colonel  William  Henry,  with  a  similar  letter  from  Colonel 
Butler. 


THE   MUTINY  AND   CONGRESS  1 5 

Lancaster,  June  17th,  1783. 

Siry  Eighty  armed  soldiers  set  off  this  morning  for 
Philadelphia  to  cooperate  with  those  now  in  the  City  in 
such  measures  as  may  appear  to  them  the  most  likely  to 
procure  their  pay  (or  perhaps  to  possess  themselves  of 
money  at  any  rate).  I  have  thought  it  my  duty  to  give 
the  most  timely  information  possible  that  the  City  may 
not  be  surprized.  I  am  informed  that  part  of  Genl  Ar- 
mand's  Corps  will  be  here  to-morrow  on  their  way  to 
Philadelphia  &  am  of  opinion  from  what  has  transpired 
from  some  of  the  men  who  are  still  here,  that  they  will 
follow  the  others  to  the  City  &  share  the  same  fate,  they 
have  thrown  out  several  threats,  that  they  will  rob  the 
Bank,  the  Treasury  &ca.  &ca. 

I  am  Sir  Your  very  humble  servant 

William  Henry  ^ 

His  Excellr  John  Dickinson,  Esq5 

On  coming  up  with  the  mutineers.  Captain  Chrystie 
read  to  them  an  address  which  Colonel  Butler  had  pre- 
pared, repeating  in  clearer  terms  his  statements  of  the 
morning,  and  closing  with  these  words : 

' '  Nor  do  we  imagine  that  your  appearance  at  Phila- 
delphia can  have  any  good  effect  in  your  favor  as  it  will 
be  justly  constreud  into  a  menace  rather  than  a  proper 
means  of  Seeking  Justice  after  what  is  offered  You."* 

But  the  Colonel's  communication  was  as  futile  as  his 
speech,  and  the  march  was  continued. 

Lieutenant  Butler  had  meanwhile  pushed  on  to  Phila- 
delphia with  the  letters  of  Colonels  Henry  and  Butler 
and  had  handed  them  to  Mr.  Dickinson,  who  at  once 
transmitted  them  to  Congress.  To  Robert  Morris,  whose 
office  was  the  storm  centre  of  governmental  circles,  and 
to  whom  every  bit  of  bad  news  was  invariably  hurried  by 
half  a  dozen  callers,  Mr.  Dickinson  brought  the  contents 

'Pap.  Cont.  Cong.  38,  p.  123.     Dipl.  Corr.  U.  S.,  Vol.  I,  p.  14. 
«Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  38,  p.  37.     Dipl.  Corr.  U.  S.,  Vol.  i,  p.  17. 


1 6  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

of  the  two  letters,  and  Major  Jackson,  Assistant  Secretary 
at  War,  with  other  disconcerted  gentlemen,  came  in  to 
discuss  the  latest  phase. ^  To  Morris  they  seemed  to  look 
as  to  a  magician,  hoping  against  hope  to  see  him  perform 
the  miracle  of  making  money  out  of  nothing ;  but  they 
left  unsatisfied,  while  the  Financier  in  spite  of  the  gather- 
ing storm  remained  the  calmest  man  in  Philadelphia. 

Congress  turned  the  dispatches  over  to  the  Secretary 
at  War,  and  at  the  same  time  appointed  Alexander 
Hamilton,  Oliver  Ellsworth,  and  Richard  Peters  a  com- 
mittee to  confer  with  the  State  Council  as  to  the  proper 
steps  to  be  taken  with  regard  to  the  mutineers.  At  the 
conference  ^  the  Congressmen  proposed  that  the  Council 
call  out  a  detachment  of  the  militia  to  intercept  them, 
pointing  out  the  danger  incurred  by  allowing  them  to 
join  the  troops  in  the  Philadelphia  barracks  whose  ugly 
temper  had  already  been  revealed  in  the  remonstrance  of 
a  few  days  before.  But  the  Council  demurred,  asserting 
that  the  militia  would  not  come  out  unless  the  mutineers 
committed  acts  of  violence.  The  Congressional  commit- 
tee then,  on  the  19th,  directed  Major  Jackson  ,^  Assistant 
Secretary  at  War,  to  go  out  and  meet  the  Lancaster  men 
and  endeavor  to  turn  them  back.  He  went ;  he  assured 
them  that  Congress  had  no  intentions  other  than  to  do 
them  justice ;  he  promised  they  should  be  allowed  to 
remain  in  the  service  until  their  accounts  were  settled  if 
they  preferred  that  arrangement  to  furloughs ;  he  agreed 
that  they  should  receive  share  in  the  allowance  of  pay 
which  was  being  made  to  the  army  at  large,  and  he 
pointed  out  the  injudiciousness  of  their  present  action ; 
but  he  might  have  addressed  the  trees  on  the  roadside 
with  just  as  much  effect,  and  he  came  back  to  Philadel- 
phia unsuccessful  in  his  mission. 

*  Morris'  Diary,  June  19th. 

*  See  report  of  the  committee  in  Journal  for  July  ist. 
'Hamilton  to  Jackson,  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.  38,  p.  161. 


THE   MUTINY   AND    CONGRESS  1 7 

On  the  morning  of  Friday,  June  20th,  with  drums  beat- 
ing and  bayonets  fixed,  the  Lancaster  detachment,  less  a 
score  who  had  deserted  on  the  way,  marched  into  town 
as  gaily  as  if  on  parade.  Welcomed  with  cheers  by  the 
citizens,  at  the  barracks  where  they  calmly  quartered 
themselves  they  were  received  by  their  comrades  with 
open  arms  as  brothers  and  fellow-sufferers,  and  when 
Colonel  Humpton  announced  at  afternoon  roll-call  that 
they  would  be  paid  off  at  Lancaster  and  nowhere  else  he 
only  added  fuel  to  a  growing  fire. 

The  air  was  alive  with  wild  rumors ;  some  said  that 
the  mutineers  intended  to  raid  the  Bank ;  others  declared 
that  an  assault  would  be  made  on  the  Council ;  others 
that  Congress  was  to  be  seized  and  held  for  ransom; 
everyone  knew  why  the  men  had  come,  but  no  one  could 
tell  just  what  they  proposed  to  do. 

Such  was  the  exciting  state  of  affairs  in  the  capital  of 
the  United  States  when  the  members  of  Congress  ad- 
journed on  Friday  afternoon  according  to  their  custom, 
not  expecting  to  re-assemble  until  the  following  Monday.* 

That  night  two  men,  one  in  the  uniform  of  an  officer, 
the  other  in  civilian  dress,  appeared  at  the  barracks  and 
enquired  for  Sergeant  Nagle.  When  Nagle  came  out 
accompanied  by  several  other  men  a  long  conversation 
took  place  of  which  no  record  has  been  left,  save  that  the 
visitors  informed  their  hearers,  on  alleged  unimpeachable 
authority,  that  they  would  receive  just  one  month's  pay 
and  no  more  whether  they  accepted  furlough  or  not. 
This  information  to  disgruntled  men,  who  in  many  cases 
were  hundreds  of  miles  away  from  home  and  who  had 
families  awaiting  them,  was  hardly  pacifying.     Nor  was 

'  In  the  afternoon  the  Committee  of  Congress,  Peters,  Hamilton,  and  Ells- 
worth called  on  Morris  and  had  a  long  conference  with  him,  and  Morris  agreed 
that  all  who  had  not  been  paid  for  January  should  receive  that  month's  pay  in 
specie  and  that  of  the  next  three  months  in  notes,  but  the  Lancaster  men  were  to 
be  paid  at  Lancaster  only.  (  Diary,  June  20th. ) 
2 


1 8  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

it  intended  to  be.  Carberry  and  Sullivan  —  for  they 
were  the  two  visitors — had  gone  to  the  barracks  with 
the  sole  purpose  of  perfecting  arrangements  for  a  demon- 
stration of  force. 

At  the  barracks  the  next  morning  everything  was 
ominously  calm  until  General  St.  Clair  and  the  two 
Morrises  with  President  Dickinson  went  to  address  the 
men.  They  were  hooted  down  for  their  pains.  Mr. 
Dickinson  on  his  return  home  spent  an  unpleasant  half 
hour,  if  we  may  believe  the  story  of  Sergeant  Nagle,  as 
overheard  a  day  or  two  later  by  an  outsider  named  Ben- 
jamin Spyker,  Jr.^  and  recited  subsequently  in  the  latter's 
sworn  affidavit.^  Nagle  said  that  he  and  another  man 
were  deputed  to  go  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty-first  to 
President  Dickinson's  house  in  Market  Street  and  get 
his  signature  to  a  document  engaging  to  give  within  three 
days  a  final  statement  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the 
authorities  intended  to  settle  with  the  soldiery.  Mr. 
Dickinson,  who  happened  to  know  his  unwelcome  callers 
personally,  was  much  perturbed,  and  adopting  dilatory 
tactics  at  once  opened  a  bottle  of  wine  for  them.  When 
it  was  finished  he  ordered  another,  whereupon  Nagle  in- 
formed him  that  they  '*  had  not  come  to  get  groggy,  but 
to  get  their  rights,"  and  gave  him  half  an  hour  in  which 
to  consider  their  errand.  This  grace  was  extended  to 
thirty-five  minutes,  and  when  that  time  was  up  and  Mr. 
Dickinson  had  not  signed,  Nagle  told  his  companion  to 
fetch  the  garrison  while  he  guarded  the  now  thoroughly 
frightened  president.  Mr.  Dickinson  then  asked  if  he 
might  not  go  upstairs  in  order  to  use  his  private  pen  and 
ink,  only  to  receive  the  curt  reply  that  he  must  sign 
where  he  was.     Driven  to  bay  he  then  tremblingly  put 

^  A  son  (?)  of  Benjamin  Spyker,  the  delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Convention, 
and  prominent  in  the  history  of  Berks  Co.,  Pennsylvania.  Cf.  Montgomery's 
History  of  Berks  Co.     (Reading,  Pa.,  1894.) 

2  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.  38,  p.  57. 


THE   MUTINY   AND   CONGRESS  I9 

his  name  to  the  document,  and  his  visitors  departed. 
Some  time  during  that  lively  morning  he  and  Colonel 
Humpton  visited  Mr.  Morris  to  inform  him  of  the  atti- 
tude of  the  mutineers.  The  Financier  advocated  calling 
out  the  militia,  and  sent  for  Thomas  Willing,  president 
of  the  new  bank,  and  advised  him  to  take  whatever  pre- 
caution the  directors  should  deem  expedient. 

Either  Nagle  did  not  think  President  Dickinson's  auto- 
graph of  sufficient  weight,  or  his  comrades  at  the  barracks 
saw  nothing  to  be  gained  by  a  wait  of  three  days ;  for  at 
half  past  twelve  when  all  the  officers  were  away  at  din- 
ner the  long  roll  was  suddenly  sounded.  The  President 
was  entertaining  at  his  own  table  the  officers  of  the  two 
companies  which  had  arrived  at  Philadelphia  on  the  15  th 
from  Charleston.*  His  guests  hurried  to  the  barracks 
and  with  their  companies  fell  in  to  a  man.  The  Lancas- 
ter detachment  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the 
recruits  were  already  drawn  up.  No  one  save  Nagle 
seemed  to  know  why  the  long  roll  had  been  sounded  nor 
where  the  troops  were  going;  but  it  was  soon  made 
clear  that  they  were  bound  for  the  State  House. 

The  news  spread  like  wildfire ;  the  city  was  at  once  in 
an  uproar.  Word  reached  Morris  just  after  Thomas 
Willing  left  the  Office  of  Finance ;  he  hurried  home  to 
allay  the  fears  of  his  family,  and  then  went  to  the  house 
of  a  friend  to  await  developments.  The  Carolina  com- 
panies proceeded  to  President  Dickinson's  residence,  un- 
aware that  he  had  hastened  to  the  State  House  where  the 
Council  was  in  session.  Several  troops  of  militia  paraded, 
says  Major  Denny,  a  statement  which  is  corroborated  by 
the  diary  of  Jacob  Hiltsheimer  the  Philadelphia  stock- 
raiser,^  and  discredits  the  assertion  of  the  Council  that 

^  Journal  of  Major  Ebenezer  Denny,  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society  Memoirs, 
Vol.  7  (i860)  p.  256-257. 

^Penna.  Mag.,  Vol.  16,  p.  165. 


20  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

the  militia  would  not  come  out  unless  acts  of  violence 
were  committed ;  but  it  has  been  impossible  to  find  that 
any  effort  was  made  to  restrain  the  mutineers.  Indeed, 
Nagle  declared  that  the  militia-men  were  afraid. 

At  Nagle's  direction  Sergeant  Robinson  with  an  ad- 
vance guard  of  thirty  men  marched  to  the  State  House, 
and  on  arriving  there,  pushed  his  way  in  to  President 
Dickinson  and  presented  this  communication  written  by 
Carberry  and  Sullivan : 

May  it  please  your  Excellency. 

We  the  non  Commission'd  Officers  and  Soldiers  now  in 
this  City  demand  of  you  and  the  hon.  Council  authority 
to  appoint  commissioned  Officers  to  command  us  and  re- 
dress our  grievances,  which  Officers  to  have  full  powers 
to  adopt  such  measures  as  they  may  judge  most  likely  to 
procure  us  justice.  You  will  immediately  issue  such  au- 
thority and  deliver  it  to  us  or  otherwise  we  shall  in- 
stantly let  in  these  injured  soldiers  upon  you,  and  abide 
by  the  consequences.  You  have  only  twenty  minutes  to 
deliberate  on  this  matter  —  The  Officers  in  general  have 
forsaken  us  and  refuse  to  take  any  further  command. 
This  I  presume  you  all  know. 

We  are  in  behalf  of  ourselves  and  the  men  Yours  &c  &c.^ 

A  few  minutes  later  the  rest  of  the  soldiers  —  number- 
ing in  all  between  two  hundred  and  fifty  and  three  hun- 
dred—  in  immediate  command  of  Sergeant  Townsend, 
also  reached  the  State  House,  and  there  Nagle  formed 
them  into  a  hollow  square  around  the  building,  posting 
guards  at  every  entrance. 

The  Council  promptly  and  unanimously  resolved  to 
reject  the  insolent  address,  but  remained  close  in  their 
room  for  an  hour  after  its  receipt.  The  secretary  was 
sent  out  to  ask  if  the  document  represented  the  opinion 
of  the  soldiers  in  general,  a  question  which  met  with 
further   insolence.      Meanwhile    President   Boudinot  of 

>  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  38,  p.  27.  Dipl.  Corr.  U.  S.,  Vol.  i,  p.  35,  The  threat, 
as  usually  quoted,  mistakenly  speaks  of  '  *  enraged ' '  instead  of  ' '  injured ' '  soldiers. 


THE   MUTINY   AND   CONGRESS  21 

Congress,  being  informed  by  a  member  of  his  committee 
of  the  sudden  turn  that  affairs  had  taken,  had  issued  a 
hurry  call  for  a  special  meeting,  though  for  what  purpose 
is  by  no  means  clear ;  and  in  obedience  to  his  summons 
most  of  his  colleagues  had  gathered  in  the  State  House 
where  Congress  was  wont  to  sit.  As  he  was  about  to  pass 
through  to  the  Congress-room  several  persons  pointed  at 
him  and  cried :  ' '  There !  There  goes  the  President  of 
Congress !  Why  do  you  let  him  pass?  "  Three  soldiers, 
two  of  them  Frenchmen  and  the  other  a  man  named  An- 
drew Wright,  private  in  Captain  Robert  Wilkie's  com- 
pany, sprang  forward  and  seized  him,  and  he  might  have 
fared  badly  had  not  Sergeant  Townsend,  who  happened 
to  be  there,  ordered  the  men  to  release  him,  reprimand- 
ing them  severely,  apologizing  to  Mr.  Boudinot  and 
naively  assuring  him  that  they  had  no  intention  of  insult- 
ing gentlemen.^ 

Soon  after  one  o'clock,  six  States  being  represented 
although  this  was  no  quorum.  Congress  resolved  to  re- 
quest the  Council  to  disperse  the  mutineers.  But  Mr. 
Dickinson  replied  in  person  that  he  did  not  see  his  way 
to  such  action  unless  actual  violence  were  offered,  and 
with  his  reply  handed  to  Congress  the  address  the  Coun- 
cil had  received.  General  St.  Clair  was  sent  for  to  urge 
the  men  to  return  to  the  barracks.  His  first  report,  says 
Madison,  gave  no  encouragement.  After  various  prop- 
ositions had  been  rejected  as  inadequate,  Congress  de- 
cided to  take  no  steps  whatever  toward  redress  of  alleged 
grievances  while  thus  menaced,  and  furthermore  resolved 
to  remain  in  session  until  the  regular  hour  of  adjournment 
but  to  transact  no  business.^  At  this  juncture  St.  Clair 
reported  to  the  Council  that  he  could  arrange  matters 
peaceably  if  the  Council  would  agree  to  a  conference 

•  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.  38,  pp.  49  and  73.  Affidavits  of  Sergeants  Townsend  and 
Murthwaite. 

'Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  i,  p.  466.     Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  i,  p.  483. 


22  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

with  a  committee  of  the  soldiers.  Dickinson  sought  the 
advice  of  Boudinot,  and  when  the  latter  cheerfully  acqui- 
esced the  Council  consented  to  the  conference. 

Congress  remained  in  the  State  House  until  about  half 
past  three,  when  the  members  departed  unmolested.  In 
fact,  Mr.  Boudinot  alone  appears  to  have  come  in  per- 
sonal contact  with  the  mutineers.  Otherwise,  and  in 
spite  of  the  malignant  generosity  of  citizens  who  passed 
liquor  around,  they  behaved  in  an  orderly  manner,  "in- 
dividuals only,"  according  to  Madison,  "occasionally 
uttering  offensive  words,  and  wantonly  pointing  their 
muskets  to  the  window  of  the  halls  of  Congress." 

Elias  Boudinot  was  badly  frightened  and  his  letter  to 
Washington  written  half  an  hour  after  the  adjournment 
reveals  his  agitation.  "They  have  seized,"  said  he,  "the 
public  Magazine  ^  and  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  worst  is 
not  yet  come.  .  .  .  The  Militia  of  the  City,  will  I  suppose 
be  called  out,  but  there  are  some  suspicions  that  the 
Mutineers  value  themselves  on  their  interest  with  the  In- 
habitants. It  is  therefore  the  wish  of  the  Members  who 
were  assembled,  that  your  Excellency  would  direct  a 
movement  of  some  of  your  best  Troops,  on  whom  you 
can  depend  under  these  circumstances,  toward  this  City, 
as  it  will  be  of  the  most  dangerous  consequences  if  a 
Measure  of  this  kind  is  to  be  put  up  with,  and  no  one  can 
tell  where  it  will  end."^ 

So  great  was  the  impression  produced  on  him  that  he 
called  another  meeting  of  Congress  that  evening,  and  at  its 
close  penned  a  second  letter  to  the  Commander-in-Chief : 

Philadelphia  21.  June  1783. 

II  O'clock  P.  M. 
Dear  Sir, 

This  Afternoon  I  dispatched  an  Express  to  your 
Excellency   (a   copy  of    whose   dispatches   is   enclosed) 

1  He  wrote  to  the  Ministers  at  Paris  that  the  mutineers  "had  taken  possession 
of  the  powder-house  and  several  public  arsenals."     Wharton,  Vol.  6,  p.  547. 
*  Letters  to  Washington,  92,  p.  224.     Boudinot,  Vol.  i,  p.  332. 


THE   MUTINY  AND   CONGRESS  23 

informing  of  the  mutinous  conduct  of  the  Troops  in  the 
Barracks  in  this  City,  part  of  whom  lately  came  in  a 
mutinous  manner  from  Lancaster. 

I  thought  proper  to  call  Congress  together  this  Even- 
ing since  writing  by  the  Express,  in  order  to  deliberate 
on  the  proper  Steps  to  be  taken  in  consequence  of  the 
unpardonable  insult  of  the  day. 

I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  your  Excellency  the  result 
of  our  deliberations  on  the  subject.  These  Resolutions 
are  to  be  kept  a  secret  till  we  are  sure  what  the  issue  of 
the  conference  with  the  Supreme  Executive  Council  will 
produce.  —  By  the  last  Resolve  your  Excellency  will  per- 
ceive, that  the  request  of  the  Members  present  this  morn- 
ing is  confirmed,  as  it  has  become  absolutely  necessary 
that  this  wound  to  the  dignity  of  the  Foederal  Govern- 
ment should  not  go  unpunished. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect  and  esteem, 
Sir, 

Your  Excellency's 
Obd* 

and  very  humb.  Ser* 

Elias  Boudinot.^ 

The  resolutions  adopted  that  evening,  and  of  which 
copies  were  sent  to  General  Washington,  were  three  in 
number : 

Resolved,  That  the  President  and  Supreme  Executive 
Council  of  Pennsylvania  be  informed  that  the  Authority 
of  the  United  States  having  been  this  day  grossly  in- 
sulted by  the  disorderly  and  menacing  Appearance  of  a 
body  of  Armed  Soldiers  About  the  place  within  which 
Congress  were  assembled  &  the  Peace  of  this  city  being 
endangered  by  the  mutinous  disposition  of  the  said  troops 
now  in  the  Barracks,  it  is,  in  the  Opinion  of  Congress, 
Necessary  that  effectual  measures  be  immediately  taken 
for  supporting  the  Public  authority.'' 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee,  on  a  letter  from  Col. 
Butler  be  directed  to  Confer,  without  loss  of  time  with 
the  Supreme  Executive  Council  of  Pennsylvania  on  the 

^  Letters  to  Washington,  92,  p.  228. 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong,  i,  vol.  Z^,  Journal,  June  2ist. 


24  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

practicability  of  carrying  the  Preceding  resolution  into 
effect ;  And  that  in  case  it  shall  appear  to  the  Committee 
that  there  is  not  a  Satisfactory  ground  for  expecting  Ade- 
quate and  Prompt  exertions  of  this  State  for  supporting 
the  dignity  of  the  foederal  Government,  the  President  on 
the  Advice  of  the  Committee  be  Authorized  &  directed 
to  summon  the  Members  of  Congress  to  meet  on  Thurs- 
day next  at  Trenton  or  Princeton  in  New-Jersey  in  order 
that  further  &  more  effectual  measures  be  taken  for  sup- 
pressing the  Present  revolt  &  maintaining  the  dignity 
and  authority  of  the  United  States.^ 

Resolved,  that  the  Secretary  at  War  be  directed  to 
communicate  to  the  Commander  in  chief  the  State  &  dis- 
position of  the  said  troops,  in  order  that  he  may  take  im- 
mediate measures  to  dispatch  to  this  City  such  force  as 
he  may  judge  Expedient  for  suppressing  any  disturbances 
that  may  Ensue. ^ 

While  these  resolutions  were  being  read  to  Mr.  Dick- 
inson* later  that  night  at  his  house  by  Hamilton  and 
Ellsworth,  and  while  Morris  was  again  urging  him  to 
call  out  the  militia,  Carberry  and  Sullivan  were  discus- 
sing the  events  of  the  afternoon  with  twenty  or  thirty  non- 
commissioned officers  and  privates  at  the  "Sign  of  the 
Three  Tuns  "  on  Race  Street  "  near  the  common."  They 
assured  the  soldiers  that  if  a  stiff  front  were  kept  up  they 
would  in  a  day  or  two  receive  their  back  pay  with  satis- 
factory terms  for  the  future.  There  was  plenty  of  money 
in  the  city,  they  said ;  there  were  merchants  who  would 
willingly  lend  it  for  such  a  purpose  —  they  mentioned  par- 
ticularly Major  Nicholls;  and  in  any  case  there  were 
more  ways  than  one  of  getting  it.  For  the  time  being, 
however,  they  counselled  order  and  sobriety.  Then  Car- 
berry  suggested  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  rep- 
resent the  soldiery,  and  in  a  few  moments  he,  with  Cap- 

*  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.  I,  Vol.  35,  Journal,  June  2ist. 

*  See  message  of  Dickinson  and  the  Council  to  the  General  Assembly  in  Penn- 
sylvania Gazette,  September  24th,  giving  their  version  of  the  whole  affair  ;  and  also 
Hamilton's  objecting  letter  to  Dickinson  (misprinted  Reed)  in  J.  C.  Hamilton's 
edition  of  A.  Hamilton's  Works,  Vol.  i,  p.  374,  etc. 


THE   MUTINY  AND   CONGRESS  2$ 

tains  Chrystie  and   Steel  and   Lieutenants  Huston  and 
Sullivan,  found  himself  elected  to  this  duty. 

At  nine  o'clock  Sunday  morning,  June  22d,  at  Mr. 
Dickinson's  house,  the  first  conference  between  the  Con- 
gressional committee  and  the  State  Council  took  place. 
Hamilton  and  Ellsworth  informed  the  Council  that  in  the 
opinion  of  Congress  the  affair  of  Saturday  was  of  so  seri- 
ous a  nature  and  was  fraught  with  such  dangerous  possi- 
bilities that  it  necessitated  the  adoption  of  vigorous  and 
effective  measures  ' '  to  put  a  stop  to  the  future  progress 
of  the  evil,  and  to  compel  submission  on  the  part  of  the 
offenders."  They  refrained  from  specifying  what  meas- 
ures they  thought  would  be  effective,  but  at  the  same 
time  suggested  that  the  militia,  or  a  portion  thereof  suf- 
ficient to  suppress  the  revolt,  be  called  out;  and  they  in- 
formed the  Council  that  Congress  had  suspended  its  de- 
liberations until  the  State  should  adopt  proper  steps  to 
provide  against  the  possibility  of  a  repetition  of  Satur- 
day's demonstration.  But  the  Council  was  not  prepared 
to  call  out  the  militia  without  ascertaining  the  state  and 
disposition  of  the  men  composing  it,  and  replied  that  it 
would  be  necessary  to  consult  with  the  militia  officers  for 
that  purpose.  The  conference  was  accordingly  adjourned 
until  the  next  day,  when,  previous  to  resuming  the  dis- 
cussion, Hamilton  and  Ellsworth  sent  a  letter  to  President 
Dickinson  requesting  that  the  answer  of  the  Council  be 
made  in  writing  so  that  there  might  "be  no  future  misun- 
derstanding of  the  case,  at  the  same  time  enclosing  to 
him  a  copy  of  the  Congressional  resolutions  of  Saturday 
night.  But  at  this  second  conference  the  Council  re- 
fused to  give  a  written  reply,  alleging  irregularity  and 
incompatibility  with  the  dignity  of  the  State  in  such  pro- 
cedure. The  committee  then  protestingly  accepted  an 
oral  answer,  of  which  the  substance  is  found  in  the  writ- 
ten report  made  by  Hamilton  and  Ellsworth  on  July  ist, 
and  which  was  nothing  less  than  a  declaration  that  no  aid 


26  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

was  to  be  expected  from  the  militia  unless  the  situation 
became  much  more  threatening.  It  was  the  opinion  of 
the  Council  that  it  would  be  unnecessary  and  inexpedient 
to  call  on  the  militia :  conciliation  rather  than  coercion 
was  advocated,  especially  as  there  were  hints  of  submis- 
sion on  the  part  of  the  mutineers,  although  they  still 
were  under  arms  and  were  holding  the  city  arsenal.  To 
these  arguments  Hamilton  replied  at  some  length,  and 
President  Dickinson  found  himself  between  Scylla  and 
Charybdis,  urged  on  the  one  hand  by  the  representatives 
of  the  United  States  to  call  out  the  militia  against  the 
soldiers,  while  on  the  other  hand  he  knew  that  the  citi- 
zens considered  the  soldiers  objects  of  pity  rather  than 
chastisement.  He  chose  to  side  with  the  citizens,  and 
after  further  fruitless  discussion  Hamilton  and  Ellsworth 
retired,  with  no  alternative  left  under  the  resolution  of 
Saturday  but  to  advise  Mr.  Boudinot  to  adjourn  from  the 
city.  Nevertheless,  desiring  to  be  guiltless  of  undue  haste, 
and  to  give  the  Council  a  last  chance  to  reconsider,  as  well 
as  to  see  what  basis  of  fact  existed  for  the  rumors  of  sub- 
mission, they  withheld  their  report  for  twenty-four  hours. 
On  Monday  night  the  Council  assembled  again  at  Dick- 
inson's house,  and  issued  orders  to  the  lieutenants  of  the 
city  and  county,  all  the  field  officers  of  the  militia,  and 
Captain  Morris  of  the  Light  Horse  to  meet  the  Council 
in  conference  at  the  State  House  the  next  morning  at  ten. 
At  this  conference  the  officers  decided  with  the  Council 
that  it  would  be  imprudent  to  call  out  the  militia,  but 
agreed,  if  negotiations  failed  and  the  soldiers  insisted  on 
unreasonable  claims,  to  make  every  effort  to  support 
public  authority  and  to  use  their  influence  to  dispose 
public  opinion  in  that  direction.  And  in  order  to  be 
ready  for  serious  business,  ammunition  was  stealthily  dis- 
tributed to  convenient  points  in  the  city.  This  was  the 
first  real  step  toward  enforcement  of  order  taken  by  the 
State  authorities. 


THE    MUTINY   AND    CONGRESS  2/ 

President  Boudinot  had  already  learned  how  the  wind 
was  blowing,  and  on  Monday  had  written  to  his  brother 
Elisha  that  Dickinson  and  his  Council  lacked  the  neces- 
sary backbone  to  call  out  the  militia;  the  political  ma- 
noeuvers  in  connection  with  the  question  of  federal  resi- 
dence which  was  to  be  settled  in  the  coming  October 
were  '•  unhinging  government"  ;  the  mutineers  were  pri- 
vately supported,  and  it  would  be  a  wonder  if  the  members 
of  Congress  were  not  all  prisoners  before  long. 

"Congress  will  not  sit  here,"  he  continued,  "but 
have  authorized  me  to  change  their  place  of  Residence  — 
I  mean  to  adjourn  to  Princeton  if  the  Inhabitants  of  Jersey 
will  protect  us  —  I  have  wrote  to  the  Governor  particu- 
larly—  I  wish  you  could  get  your  Troop  of  Horse  to 
offer  their  aid  and  be  ready  if  necessary  to  meet  us  at 
Princeton  on  Saturday  or  Sunday  next  if  required  — 

' '  I  would  not  wish  anything  to  be  made  more  public 
than  is  necessary  for  the  above  purpose  — 

"  I  wish  Jersey  to  show  her  readiness  on  this  occasion  as 
it  may  fix  Congress  as  to  their  permanent  residence  —  "^ 

On  Tuesday  morning  Robert  Morris  was  notified  by 
Hamilton,  Fitzsimmons,  Wilson,  and  Peters,  to  prepare 
himself  for  departure  from  the  city,  as  it  was  probable 
that  Congress  would  leave  that  afternoon.  Charles 
Thomson  and  Major  Jackson  came  to  consult  him  about 
money  for  transportation,  and  later  in  the  day  Alexander 
Hamilton  returned  to  say  that  his  committee  had  just  re- 
ported to  President  Boudinot  the  fruitlessness  of  their 
conferences  with  the  Council.  The  departure  of  Con- 
gress was  to  be  kept  secret  lest  the  soldiers  should  be 
tempted  to  seize  the  members  of  Congress  and  Morris 
himself  as  hostages  for  pardon.  Mr.  Boudinot  called 
and  also  wrote  a  note  informing  Morris  of  the  adjourn- 
ment. Public  business  came  to  a  standstill.  Closing  his 
office  and  placing  Samuel  Lyon,  a  secretary,  on  guard 

>  Boudinot,  Vol.  i,  p.  336. 


28  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

over  the  archives  of  the  department,  the  Financier  with 
Gouverneur  Morris  that  evening  left  Philadelphia  for 
Trenton,  where  he  arrived  early  the  next  morning  and 
found  quarters.^ 

On  receiving  Hamilton's  report,  President  Boudinot 
orally  notified  all  of  his  colleagues  whom  he  could  find, 
and  then,  leaving  the  following  proclamation  behind  him, 
set  off  for  Princeton. 

By  His  Excellency 

Elias  Boudinot,  Esquire, 

President  of  the  United  States  in  Congress 

Assembled. 

a  proclamation. 

Whereas  a  body  of  armed  Soldiers  in  the  service  of 
the  United  States,  and  quartered  in  the  Barracks  of  this 
City,  having  mutinously  renounced  their  obedience  to 
their  Officers,  did,  on  Saturday  the  Twenty-First  Day  of 
this  instant,  proceed,  under  the  direction  of  their  Serjeants, 
in  a  hostile  and  threatening  manner,  to  the  Place  in  which 
Congress  were  assembled,  and  did  surround  the  same  with 
Guards :  And  whereas  Congress  in  consequence  thereof, 
did  on  the  same  Day  resolve,  * '  That  the  President  and 
Supreme  Executive  Council  of  this  State  should  be  in- 
formed, that  the  authority  of  the  United  States  having 
been,  that  Day,  grossly  insulted  by  the  disorderly  and 
menacing  appearance  of  a  body  of  armed  Soldiers,  about 
the  Place  within  which  Congress  were  assembled ;  and 
that  the  Peace  of  this  City  being  endangered  by  the 
mutinous  Disposition  of  the  said  Troops  then  in  the  Bar- 
racks ;  it  was,  in  the  Opinion  of  Congress,  necessary,  that 
effectual  Measures  should  be  immediately  taken  for  sup- 
porting the  public  Authority:"  And  also  whereas  Con- 
gress did  at  the  same  Time  appoint  a  Committee  to  con- 
fer with  the  said  President  and  Supreme  Executive  Council 
on  the  practicability  of  carrying  the  said  Resolution  into 
due  effect :  And  also  whereas  the  said  Committee  have 

^  Diary,  June  24th. 


By   His  E  X  C  E  L  L  E  N  C  V 

Elias    Boudinot,     Efquire, 

Prefident  o(  tlic  United  Sues  in  Congrefs  AlTctnbled. 

A       PROCLAMATION. 

WHEREAS  «  body  of  armcj  Soldiers  in  the  Tcrviif  of  the  Uni;ed  Suus,  ind  quirtered  in  ihe  Bjrricki 
of  this  City,  having  mutincudy  renounced  tficirobedience  to  their  Officers,  did,  on  Siturday  the  Twen 
ty.Fitrt  Dijr  cf  this  inftant,  proceed,  under  the  direfliooof  their  Serjeants,  in  a  hodile  and  threalning  minc.tr,  (o 
ihc  Plac-  in  which  Congrefs  were  aHemblcd,  and  did  furr>nnd  the  f?me  with  Cjirds:  And  v'lerc^i  C'<Dgre(s  in 
confequeocc  thereof,  did  o.i  the  fame  Day,  refolve.  "  Tb»che  Ptcfidcnt  an  I  Supreme  Executive  Council  of  this  Stated 
•'  fliould  be  informed,  that  the  autliorlty  of  the  United  States  having  been,  ih  e  Day,  grofily  infullcd  by  the 
"  diforderly  and  menacing  appearance  of  a  body  of  armed  Soldier's,  about  the  Pljcc  within  which  Cungrefj  were  artem- 
"  bled;  3,id  that  the  Peace  of  this  City  being  endangeredby  the  mutinous  Difpoiltion  of  tlic  faid  Troops  then  in  the 
"  Barracks;  itwas,  inthc  Opinion  of  Congrefi,  neccflary.lhat  effccloal  Miafures  (hould  be  ir.imedkiicly  taken  fi,.- 
"  fupportiog  the  public  Authority:"  And  alfo  whereas  (bngrefs  did  at  the  fame  Time  appoint  a  Commiiice  to  ctm- 
fer  with  thefaij  Piefideac  and  Supreme  Executive  Councilonihc  ptaOicabiliiy  of  carrying  the  faid  Refoluiion  inloduc 
tffcQ  :  And  alfo  whereas  the  faid  Committee  have  reported  o  me,  tha  they  have  not  received  fatisfaflory  AITuiances 
for  expeiJliog  adequate  snd  prompt  exertions  of  this  State/or  fuppotting  the  Digniti- of  tJie  foederal  Covern.TKnt  ^  And 
alfowhereas  the  faid  Soldien  Ilill  coocinueina  ftate  of  opeoMutlny  and  Revolt,  fo  ihi;  rile  Dignity  and  AoiWity  of  the 
United  States  would  be  coodantlyexpofedtoa  repetition  o  Infulc,  while  Congrefs  fiiall  continue  Co  fit  m  this  City,  I 
do  therefore,  by  and  with  the  Advice  of  the  (aid  Commitee,  and  according  to  the  Powers  and  Au:hotities  in  me  veft. 
ed  for  this  Purpofe,  hereby  fjmmon  the  honourable  ch;  Dlegates  compofing  the  Congrefs  of  the  United  States,  and 
every  of  them,  to  meetia  Congrefs  on  Thurfday  the  TwenrySixth  Dayof  Juneirftant,  atPrincetJn,  in  the  (late  of  New- 
Jerfey,  in  order  that  further  and  more  eflre<flual  Mcifurcs  maybe  taken  forfupprelfing  theprefent  Re«Blt,  aad  maintaining  the 
Dignity  and  Authority  of  the  United  States,  of  which  all  Offi«tsof  the  United  Sutes,  civil  and  military,  and  all  others  whom 
jtmay  concern,  are dedred  to uke  Notice  and  govern  ibemfdves  accordingly. 

GIVEN  under  aly  Hand  aid  Seal  at  Philadelphia,  in  the  (lace  of  Pennfylvania,  thi»  Twenty  Fourth  Day  of  June, 
in  the  Year  of  Our  Lord  One  ThouUnd  Seven  HuAdredaod  Eighty-Three,  and  of  our  Sovereignty  and  Inde- 
pendence the  feventb, 

ELIAS    BOUDINOT. 

Atted. 
SamuelStERETT,     Prkale  Secretary. 

rhlladeliAit    ftlpjed   by     DAVID    C    CLAYPOOLE. 

Proclamation  adjourning  Congress  to  Princeton 


THE   MUTINY  AND   CONGRESS  29 

reported  to  me,  that  they  have  not  received  satisfactory 
Assurances  for  expecting  adequate  and  prompt  exertions 
of  this  State  for  supporting  the  Dignity  of  the  foederal 
Government:  And  also  whereas  the  said  Soldiers  still 
continue  in  a  state  of  open  Mutiny  and  Revolt,  so  that 
the  Dignity  and  Authority  of  the  United  States  would  be 
constantly  exposed  to  a  repetition  of  Insult,  while  Con- 
gress shall  continue  to  sit  in  this  City ;  I  do  therefore, 
by  and  with  the  Advice  of  the  said  Committee,  and  ac- 
cording to  the  Powers  and  Authorities  in  me  vested  for 
this  purpose,  hereby  summon  the  honourable  the  Dele- 
gates composing  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and 
every  of  them,  to  meet  in  Congress  on  Thursday  the 
Twenty-Sixth  Day  of  June  instant,  at  Princeton,  in  the 
state  of  New-Jersey,  in  order  that  further  and  more  effec- 
tual Measures  may  be  taken  for  suppressing  the  present 
Revolt,  and  maintaining  the  Dignity  and  Authority  of  the 
United  States,  of  which  all  Officers  of  the  United  States, 
civil  and  military,  and  all  others  whom  it  may  con- 
cern, are  desired  to  take  Notice  and  govern  themselves 
accordingly. 

Given  under  my  Hand  and  Seal  at  Philadelphia,  this 
Twenty-Fourth  Day  of  June,  in  the  Year  of  our  Lord 
One  Thousand  Seven  Hundred  and  Eighty-Three,  and 
of  our  Sovereignty  and  Independence  the  seventh. 

Attest:  Elias  Boudinot.^ 

Samuel  Sterett,  Private  Secretary. 

*  This  is  probably  one  of  the  rarest  of  the  Continental  Congress  broadsides. 
Few  got  outside  of  Philadelphia,  and  most  of  those  posted  in  the  city  were  torn 
down  by  the  mutineers,  an  armful  at  least  being  so  destroyed.  The  text  above 
given  is  taken  from  the  copy  sent  by  Mr.  Boudinot  to  Washing^ton  ( Letters  to 
Washington,  92,  p.  242).  The  "Diary  of  Elias  Boudinot"  contains  a  facsimile 
of  the  proof  copy  preserved  by  Mr.  Boudinot,  and  is  interesting  as  it  does  not 
show  the  Claypoole  imprint  but  bears  on  the  other  hand  the  president's  autograph 
correction  of  the  last  phrase  "and  of  our  Sovereignty,"  etc.,  into  the  more  formal 
"and  of  the  Sovereignty  and  Independence  of  the  United  States,"  etc.,  a  correc- 
tion which  conforms  with  the  manuscript  version  preserved  in  the  letter-book  of 
the  president  of  Congress  (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  16,  p.  202)  and  so  published  in  the 
contemporary  newspapers. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PUBLIC  OPINION  AND  THE  FLIGHT  OF  CONGRESS. 

The  proclamation  seems  to  have  been  entirely  unex- 
pected, and  together  with  the  secret  withdrawal  of  Con- 
gress, created  an  immediate  sensation.  At  the  barracks 
the  memorial  of  grievances  drawn  up  by  the  committee 
of  sergeants  chosen  on  Saturday  night  had  been  read  at 
evening  parade  on  Tuesday,  but  whatever  enthusiasm 
that  document  had  created  was  chilled  by  the  plain  busi- 
ness-like broadsides  which  began  to  appear  all  over  the 
city.  In  spite  of  the  bravado  of  some  of  the  bolder  spirits 
who  went  out  to  tear  them  off  street  corners  and  tavern 
doors,  the  general  feeling  at  first  was  one  of  dismay  aug- 
mented by  the  circulation  of  well-accredited  reports  that 
troops  were  already  on  their  way  to  Philadelphia  to  put 
the  city  under  martial  law  and  quell  the  disturbance  by 
sheer  force.  It  was  rumored  that  Washington  himself 
was  coming.  Carberry  and  Sullivan  fled  the  next  morning, 
and  the  bottom  of  the  mutiny  at  once  fell  out.  This  ac- 
counts for  the  request  for  pardon  added  to  the  memorial 
which  was  handed  to  the  Council  that  Wednesday  at 
noon.  Hearing  that  the  soldiers  were  in  a  very  tumul- 
tuous mood,  the  State  Council  had  just  ordered  a  guard 
of  lOO  privates  to  be  called  out  by  the  Lieutenant  of  the 
City  Militia,  and  the  clerk  was  copying  the  resolution 
when  Captains  Chrystie  and  Symonds  of  the  committee 
for  the  soldiers  came  in  with  their  list  of  grievances. 
There  were  seven  distinct  demands  made  in  this  memo- 
rial: (i)  that  the  men  should  receive  half-pay  instead  of 
four  months'  pay,  the  latter  not  being  equitable  since  some 
had  been  enlisted  barely  five  months,  while  others  had 

30 


PUBLIC   OPINION  AND   FLIGHT  OF  CONGRESS  3 1 

three  years*  pay  due  them ;  (2)  that  they  should  receive 
for  the  balance  of  their  half-pay  certificates  which  would 
specify  date  of  redemption  and  not  of  the  kind  ' '  we  have 
before  this  been  put  off  with  "  ;  (3)  that  they  should  re- 
ceive the  "small  Articles  in  rations "  promised  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war  and  cut  off  since  then,  and  likewise 
all  deficiencies  in  clothing,  etc. ;  (4)  that  patents  for  land 
should  be  given  them  with  their  discharges,  and  also  the 
regular  gratuity ;  (5)  that  all  soldiers  who  had  been  dis- 
charged should  be  included  in  this  proposed  settlement, 
and  all  who  might  hereafter  be  discharged,  especially 
those  who  had  lost  a  limb ;  (6)  that  the  proposed  settle- 
ment be  extended  to  all  soldiers  of  the  Pennsylvania  line 
wherever  they  might  be ;  (7)  that  the  Lancaster  troops 
be  placed  on  the  same  footing  with  the  rest.  "  These," 
concludes  the  memorial,  "are  all  the  requests  your  hardy 
Veterans  have  to  make  —  we  think  them  our  right,  and 
we  hope  to  obtain  them ;  and  should  the  public  need  our 
services  again,  we  declare  to  sacrifice  our  most  endearing 
convictions  to  serve  them."  The  memorial  was  signed 
by  Sergeant  James  Bennett,  "  In  behalf  of  the  non-Com- 
missioned  Officers  and  Soldiers  in  Garrison."^ 

The  Council  read  the  document,  but  refused  to 
take  any  action  on  it,  unless  the  men  should  first 
yield  complete  submission  to  authority.  Chrystie  and 
Symonds  agreed  so  to  inform  their  clients,  but  at  the 
same  time  begged  the  Council  to  take  all  precautions 
for  safety  ' '  as  everything  licentious  was  to  be  appre- 
hended." Whereupon  the  Council  increased  the  guard 
to  500  men. 

Mr.  Dickinson  sat  up  all  night  in  readiness  for  the  sig- 
nal of  alarm,  and  M.  de  la  Luzerne,  the  French  Minister, 
who  had  been  a  deeply  interested  spectator  of  the  whole 
affair,  left  the  city  at  midnight  for  Princeton,  bearing  a 

•Pap.  ConL  Cong.,  38,  p.  33.  Dipl.  Corr.  U.  S.,  Vol.  I,  p.  22. 


32  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

letter  from  Dickinson  to  Boudinot  which  recounted  the 
latest  developments.^ 

Carberry  and  Sullivan,^  in  their  flight,  had  left  behind 
them  a  note  addressed  to  Lieutenant  William  Huston,  a 
member  of  the  committee  to  represent  the  soldiers,  and  an 
adjutant  in  Colonel  Humpton's  regiment.  The  note  said 
merely :  ' '  Consult  your  own  safety.  We  cannot  get  to 
you.  H.  C.-J.  S."  Accidentally  it  was  delivered  on 
Thursday  to  Captain  Chrystie  who  with  Symonds  took 
it  to  Colonel  Humpton.  The  latter  at  once  went  to  the 
barracks  and  talked  to  the  men  for  an  hour,  laying  stress 
on  the  defection  of  Carberry  and  Sullivan  and  enlarging 
on  the  dangers  of  maintaining  a  hostile  attitude  now  that 
the  authorities  were  alarmed  and  thoroughly  awakened 
to  the  situation.  At  length  all  except  the  Lancaster 
party  grounded  their  arms,  and  leaving  them  at  the  bar- 
racks, proceeded  to  the  residence  of  President  Dickinson, 
where  the  latter  harangued  them  further  on  their  past 
and  present  behavior,  insisting  that  they  give  further 
evidence  of  their  good  intention  of  ' '  dutiful  submission 
to  the  offended  majesty  of  the  United  States  "  by  com- 
pelling the  Lancaster  men  also  to  lay  down  their  arms 
and  return  home.' 

*  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  38,  p.  127,  Dickinson  to  Boudinot  June  25th,  with  en- 
dorsement by  Boudinot :  * '  Rec*  Thursday  Morning  9  "Clock  by  the  Minister  of 
France,  who  said  he  rec*  it  from  the  Presid*  of  the  State,  at  12  "Clock  the  night 
before.      E.  B." 

*  In  a  somewhat  theatrical  letter  of  farewell  to  Colonel  Moylan,  dated  the  Cape, 
June  30th,  Sullivan  says  that  "  a  series  of  injuries  and  the  incessant  indignities  we 
experienc'd  were  our  sole  inducements  for  prosecuting  the  plan  at  all  risks." 
With  Carberry  he  is  being  wafted  on  by  a  gentle  though  generous  gale,  with  perfect 
tranquility  of  mind,  conscious  of  no  unworthy  action  and  regretting  nothing  but 
their  failure  in  a  noble  attempt  — 

"  And  more  true  joy  Marcellus  exiled  feels 

Than  Caezar  with  a  Senate  at  his  heels." 
He  thanks  Colonel  Moylan  for  past  kindnesses,  and  his  address  will  be  with  Cap- 
tain Richardson  of  the  First  Regiment  of  Guards,  London,  a  brother  of  Major 
Richardson  of  Philadelphia.     (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  38,  p.  41  ;  Dipl.  Corr.  U.  S., 
Vol.  1,  p.  37.)     Carberry  sent  a  tender  letter  of  good-bye  to  his  mother. 

*  Dickinson's  message  in  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  September  24th,  1783. 


PUBLIC   OPINION   AND    FLIGHT   OF   CONGRESS  33 

The  next  morning  at  roll-call  half  of  the  Lancaster  con- 
tingent yielded,  and  when  at  noon  Colonel  Humpton  put 
the  barracks  under  arms  the  rest  also  surrendered,  and 
at  six  in  the  evening  began  their  march  back  to  Lancaster 
under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Herbert  of  the  Second 
Pennsylvania.^ 

The  action  of  Congress  gave  rise  to  much  criticism. 
Outside  the  barracks  opinion  was  divided.  Many  of 
those  who  condemned  it  were,  to  quote  Madison's  opinion, 
but  partially  acquainted  with  the  facts,  while  many  of 
those  who  justified  it  seemed  *  *  to  have  their  eye  remotely 
on  the  disgrace  of  the  Executive  Council  of  the  State."' 
The  local  newspapers  welcomed  a  genuine  sensation,  and 
at  once  became  the  recipients  of  more  or  less  apt  com- 
munications on  the  subject,  which  were  freely  copied  by 
their  extra- Philadelphia  contemporaries.  Some  corre- 
spondents, like  "  Sincerus  "  in  the  Freeman  s  Journal  for 
July  2d  and  "  A  Lover  of  Facts  "  in  the  issue  for  July  i6th, 
upheld  the  action  of  Congress,  blamed  the  soldiers  for 
their  conduct,  and  berated  the  Council  for  its  supineness. 
More,  like  "  Z  "  in  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  (July  2d)  de- 
clared that  Congress  had  made  a  mountain  out  of  a  mole- 
heap,  while  in  "An  Observer"  {Freeman s Journal,  July 
2d)  the  episode  found  at  least  one  impartial  chronicler. 
It  was  said  by  some  people,  according  to  "A  Lover  of 
Facts"  that  the  flight  of  Congress  was  "the  base  bom 
brat  of  petulant  haste,  and  not  the  honourable  child  of 
reason  "  ;  but  in  his  opinion  Congress  acted  as  deliberately 
and  rationally  as  the  nature  of  the  case  admitted.  If 
there  was  anything  regrettable  in  that  action  it  was  to  be 
laid  to  the  door  of  the  "blest  mild  administration  of 
Pennsylvania!  "  The  Council  and  the  officers  of  the 
militia  had  said  that  no  dependence  could  be  placed  in  the 

^  Dickinson  to  Boudinot,  June  27th  ;  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  38,  p.  143. 

*  Madison  to  Randolph,  June  30th,  Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  i,  page  553. 

3 


34  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

militia: — his  letter  was  addressed  to  the  militia — "If 
you  are  guilty,  be  honest  and  say  so :  if  not,  be  men  and 
clear  yourselves." 

In  the  Pennsylvania  Journal,  as  quoted  by  the  Freetnans 
Journal  of  July  1 6th,  a  writer  grows  sarcastic  at  the  expense 
of  Congress,  and  in  a  disgusted  tone  concludes,  "  I  wish 
Congress  would  let  the  affair  die,  and  publish  no  more 
about  it,  and  I  hope  the  council  will  publish  nothing. 
The  sooner  the  whole  affair  is  forgotten  the  better." 
On  the  other  hand,  "  A  Friend  of  Government,"  in  the 
Freeman  s  Journal oi  July  23d,  says  he  "■  cannot  call  discre- 
tion cowardice,"  nor  blame  "a  just  and  liberal  resent- 
ment " ;  he  defends  the  proclamation,  but  regrets  that 
it  contained  any  reflection  on  the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 

Robert  Morris  and  General  Lincoln  came  in  for  their 
share  of  blame  in  the  searching  questions  asked  by  ' '  Vox 
Populi  "  who,  in  the  Freeman  5  Journal  oi  July  23d,  broadly 
hinted  at  tricky  work  on  the  part  of  these  two  officials  as 
the  true  cause  of  the  mutiny.  "  Vox  Populi  "  would  per- 
haps have  changed  his  mind  had  he  been  given  a  glimpse 
of  Morris'  official  letter-book  and  had  there  seen  the  copy 
of  the  Financier's  emphatic  words  to  James  Lovell,  re- 
ceiver of  taxes  for  Massachusetts,  under  date  of  June  2d : 

"  For  Heaven's  sake  urge  the  speedy  payment  of  con- 
siderable Sums,  that  we  may  do  Something  towards  the 
Releif  of  those  brave  Fellows  who  will  be  obliged  to  beg 
or  do  worse  if  they  are  to  be  so  shamefully  deprived  of 
their  due."^ 

Another  correspondent,  while  admitting  the  sacredness 
of  the  Union,  offered  his  opinion  that  this  sacredness 
"may  in  some  cases,  feel  rather  too  quickly,"  and  after 
a  verbose  disquisition  "contemplating  what  the  sacred- 
ness of  the  union  is  or  ought  to  be,"  concluded  that  Con- 
gress  was   touchily   precipitate.^     Another   anonymous 

'  Morris'  Letter  Book  E,  p.  349. 

^Pennsylvania  Gazette,  July  2d,  and  Virginia  Gazette,  July  I2th. 


PUBLIC   OPINION  AND   FLIGHT   OF   CONGRESS  35 

writer  who  with  interesting  self-importance  considered 
himself  insulted  as  a  citizen  by  the  departure  of  Congress, 
declared  that  the  adjournment  could  not  be  justified  on 
the  premises :  soldiers  in  Europe  had  often  acted  worse, 
"  but  we  know  of  no  sovereign  power,  or  but  very  few 
who  acted  as  Congress  did."  He  granted  that  the 
soldiers  "  behaved  exceedingly  amiss  and  reprehensible  "  ; 
but  the  suggestion  that  they  were  endangering  public 
peace  would  have  emanated  more  plausibly  from  *'  others 
and  better  informed  than  Congress."*  Reply  to  this 
astounding  letter  was  made  in  the  Gazette  of  a  week  later 
and  quoted  by  various  other  newspapers.  It  was  easy, 
remarked  the  new  writer,  to  say  that  Congress  had  acted 
hastily,  inasmuch  as  no  violence  had  actually  been  done 
by  the  mutineers.  But  subsequent  facts  proved  that 
violence  was  intended,  for  if  nothing  serious  was  contem- 
plated, why  did  the  leaders  decamp?  It  was  only  the 
defection  of  the  leaders  that  made  the  plot  flash  in  the  pan. 
After  the  first  shock,  however,  public  opinion  settled 
down  to  an  attitude  of  cynical  indifference,  whose  keynote 
had  been  sounded  by  a  paragraph  in  the  Philadelphia  Gazet- 
teer or  the  Chronicle  of  Freedom  of  June  28th : 

' '  The  honorable  Congress  of  the  United  States  of 
America  having  been  for  8  years  past  resolving  and  re- 
solving, didy  on  Tuesday  last,  without  their  usual  mature 
deliberation,  hastily  resolve  to  exchange  their  old  sitting 
place  for  the  more  salubrious  air  of  Princeton  in  the  state 
of  New- Jersey,  where  they  will  enjoy  the  double  satisfac- 
tion of  the  Reverend  Doctor  W 's  lectures  on  politics 

and  divinity." 

Boudinot's  proclamation  is  then  quoted,  and  the  passage 
continues : 

' '  Though  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia  do  not  regret  the 
loss  of  Congress,  yet  they  are  sorry  better  reasons  were 

^  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  July  2d. 


36  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

not  assigned  for  their  removal.  The  late  Congressional 
proceedings  exhibit  neither  dignity,  fortitude,  nor  per- 
severance." * 

And  what  was  true  in  Philadelphia  was  true  in  a  sense 
of  the  States  at  large,  The  mutiny  of  the  soldiers  and 
**  flight  of  Congress,"  as  it  was  now  very  generally  called, 
became  the  talk  of  the  land. 

While  Robert  R.  Livingston  in  New  York  was  chaff- 
ingly  congratulating  Madison  on  Congress'  departure 
from  Philadelphia  —  a  happy  release,  he  says,  which 
nothing  but  an  armed  force  could  have  effected  ^ —  Madi- 
son's colleague,  Joseph  Jones,  writing  from  Fredericks- 
burg, in  Virginia,  was  wishing  that  Congress  had  shown 
more  firmness  to  the  mutineers,  and  had  remained  in  Phila- 
delphia despite  the  lack  of  State  support.  The  indignity 
of  the  situation  could  then  have  been  taken  up  calmly  and 
made  a  ground  for  removal  from  the  city.  As  it  is  now, 
said  Mr.  Jones,  Congress  is  "thought  to  have  been  too 
timid,  at  the  same  time  that  the  Executive  is  blamed  for 
their  remissness."  The  Hon.  Samuel  Johnson,  formerly 
a  member  of  Congress,  writing  to  ex-Governor  Burke  of 
North  Carolina,  says  that  the  conduct  of  Congress  ' '  is 
variously  represented,  some  considering  it  as  savouring 
more  of  childish  Petulance  than  dignified  Resentment, 
while  others  think  they  could  not  consistent  with  the  Dig- 
nity of  the  United  States  with  which  they  were  intrusted 
have  Acted  otherwise."^ 

Considerations  of  the  effect  on  public  opinion  had  not, 
however,  been  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  the  members  of 

*  See  also  Boston  Evening  Post  and  the  General  Advertiser,  July  19th,  1783, 
aad  Sa/em  Gazette,  July  17th,  1783. 

*  Letter  of  July  19th,  Writings  to  Madison,  Vol.  13,  p.  109.  He  goes  on  to 
ask  what  will  be  Madison's  future  destination,  and  whether  the  members  of  Con- 
gress have  become  so  "  inamored  with  the  pure  air  of  the  country  as  to  continue 
Villagers," 

'  State  Records  of  North  Carolina,  Vol.  16,  p.  970. 


PUBLIC   OPINION   AND    FLIGHT   OF  CONGRESS  37 

Congress  when  with  less  than  a  quorum  present  they 
passed  their  removal  resolutions  on  Saturday,  June  21st, 
and  least  of  all  in  Mr.  Boudinot's  mind  when  he  drew  up 
his  proclamation  of  the  24th.  He  belonged  to  the  party 
which  disliked  Philadelphia  as  a  federal  residence ;  his 
letter  to  his  brother  shows  where  his  preference  lay,  and 
like  his  colleagues  he  had  been  no  less  frightened  than  in- 
sulted by  the  events  of  the  21st. 

Just  why  he  selected  Princeton  rather  than  Trenton 
for  the  next  place  of  meeting  is  nowhere  specifically  stated 
in  his  letter-books ;  but  the  influences  that  governed  his 
choice  are  not  difficult  to  surmise.  It  was  not  the  first 
time  that  Princeton  had  been  considered  in  connection 
with  the  federal  residence.  As  early  as  November,  1 779, 
Benjamin  Rush  writing  from  Philadelphia  to  Colonel 
George  Morgan  of  Princeton  informed  him  that  some  of 
the  members  of  Congress  were  talking  of  purchasing  a 
few  square  miles  of  territory  near  that  village  wherein  to 
erect  public  offices  and  buildings  for  a  permanent  federal 
home — "a  more  central  —  healthy  —  &  plentiful  Spot" 
said  he  "  I  believe  cannot  be  found  on  the  Continent."  * 

Mr.  Boudinot's  reasons  were,  however,  chiefly  personal. 
In  the  first  place  his  experience  in  Philadelphia  led  him  to 
prefer  a  village  to  a  town,  however  small,  as  the  abode  of 
Congress.  Although  on  one  of  the  most  important  high- 
roads in  the  country,  Princeton  was  rural  enough  to  shield 
Congress  from  most  of  the  distractions  and  various  forms  of 
political  jobbery  that  were  already  hampering  legislation. 
He  was  moreover  well  acquainted  with  Princeton.  As  a 
boy  he  had  played  along  its  single  street  when  his  father's 
silversmith  shop  was  also  the  village  postoffice.'^     He  had 

1  Princeton  Collection,  Library  of  Princeton  University  . 

2  There  is  no  truth  in  Lieutenant  J.  G.  Simcoe's  assertion  in  his  Military  Jour- 
nal (N.  v.,  1844,  p.  269)  that  Elias  Boudinot's  father  was  "  a  low  Frenchman 
who  kept  an  ale-house  at  Princeton."  He  was  a  silversmith  by  trade,  and  post- 
master of  Princeton  for  a  number  of  years.  Hageman,  Vol.  i ,  p.  84,  and  New 
Jersey  Archives,  ist  series,  Vol.  20,  pp.  121,  151,  177,  389,  627. 


38  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

married  Hannah  Stockton,  the  sister  of  Princeton's  lead- 
ing citizen,  Richard  Stockton  the  Signer,  who  by  wedding 
Mr.  Boudinot's  sister  Annis  was  already  his  brother-in- 
law.  Richard  Stockton  had  died  in  1 78 1 ,  but  his  widow 
still  lived  at  "  Morven,"  the  family  homestead  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  village.  Furthermore,  we  cannot  ignore  the 
grain  of  truth  lurking  in  the  Gazetteer  s  sarcastic  fling 
already  quoted.  Dr.  Witherspoon  had  left  Congress  but 
a  few  months  before  in  order  to  set  the  half-ruined  Col- 
lege of  New  Jersey  once  more  on  its  feet ;  and  the  recol- 
lection of  his  sturdy  common  sense  and  the  anticipation 
of  a  further  enlistment  of  his  advice  in  the  struggle  with 
the  new  problems  that  now  faced  the  government  must 
have  added  their  weight  to  Mr.  Boudinot's  preference. 
Nor  is  it  probable  that  as  a  trustee  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey  he  had  forgotten  its  unswerving  loyalty  to  the 
Revolutionary  cause  or  lost  sight  of  the  patriotism  of  citi- 
zens whose  little  village  rejoiced  in  a  well-earned  reputa- 
tion as  a  hot-bed  of  rebellion.  Finally,  there  were  in  Con- 
gress at  this  time  five  graduates  of  the  College  —  Joseph 
Montgomery  of  the  Class  of  1755,  David  Howell  and  Oli- 
ver Ellsworth  who  were  graduated  in  1766,  Gunning 
Bedford  and  James  Madison  of  1771,  besides  Benjamin 
Hawkins  who  was  a  Princeton  senior  when  he  enlisted 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  Alexander  Hamilton,  the 
refusal  of  whose  request  to  be  allowed  to  take  the  four 
years'  course  in  two  was  the  only  reason  that  his  name 
did  not  appear  on  Princeton  class-rolls.  In  short.  Presi- 
dent Boudinot  knew  that,  come  what  might,  at  Princeton 
Congress  would  be  among  tried  and  trustworthy  friends. 
This  knowledge  did  not,  however,  lead  him  to  cast 
prudence  to  the  winds.  As  we  have  seen,  he  had  already 
asked  his  brother  to  send  his  troop  of  horse  to  meet  him 
in  case  protection  might  be  needed.  Whether  his  request 
was  complied  with  or  not,  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascer- 


PUBLIC   OPINION  AND    FLIGHT   OF   CONGRESS  39 

tain.  The  course  of  events  proved  that  the  presence  of 
additional  troops  in  Princeton  was  unnecessary.  But 
that  his  colleagues  desired  to  run  no  risk  is  shown  by  the 
letter  which  he  wrote  to  Washington  on  the  evening  of 
June  26th. 

Princeton  June  26*''  1783 
9  "Clock  in  the  Evening. 
Dear  Sir  : 

I  take  the  first  Moment  of  Leisure  since  our  Arrival 
here,  to  inform  your  Excellency  that  Congress  have  re- 
moved to  this  Place  —  The  reasons  of  our  Conduct,  I 
cannot  delay  the  Post  to  give  you  in  full — They  are  in 
short  contained  in  the  enclosed  Proclamation  —  I  think 
my  last  was  on  Monday,  the  Committee  appointed  to 
Confer  with  the  President  &  Council  of  the  State,  could 
not  prevail  to  have  the  Militia  called  to  suppress  the 
Rioters  —  They  delayed  till  Tuesday  2  "Clock  in  hopes 
of  the  good  Sense  of  the  Council  finally  prevailing,  but 
finding  all  ineffectual  &  being  told  by  the  President  as  the 
opinion  of  Council,  that  unless  the  Mutineers  should  go 
farther  than  they  had  done  (viz  the  making  Congress  & 
Council  Prisoners)  the  Militia  would  not  turn  out,  the 
Committee  advised  me  to  summon  Congress  agreeable  to 
the  Resolution  of  Saturday  —  I  accordingly  issued  the 
enclosed  Proclamation  &  left  the  City  — 

The  Measure  roused  and  alarmed  the  Council  &  Citi- 
zens and  they  began  to  see  their  own  danger  —  On  being 
informed  that  a  Plan  was  in  contemplation  to  attack  the 
Bank,  the  Militia  to  the  amount  of  100  were  called  out 
&  kept  under  Arms  all  Tuesday  Night  — 

In  the  morning  the  Proclamation  getting  among  the 
soldiers  they  also  were  alarmed,  and  began  a  Negotiation 
and  many  of  them  have  laid  down  their  Arms  and  it  is 
said  have  empeached  5  of  their  Officers  as  at  the  bottom 
of  the  Business  —  I  wish  some  Citizen  of  note  may  not 
be  among  the  Number  —  two  of  the  former  viz  Cap'  Car- 
berry  &  L*  Sullivan  made  off  as  soon  as  they  heard  of  the 
Submission  —  I  am  in  hopes  the  Mutiny  will  be  crushed 
—  However  at  all  Events  the  Members  of  Congress  here, 
wish  to  see  the  detachment  called  for  by  Congress  come 
on. 


40  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT  PRINCETON 

I  write  this  as  an  Individual  that  your  Exc^  may  be 
duly  informed  of  what  has  passed  —  I  should  be  glad  to 
see  your  Exc^  with  the  detachment  if  consistent  with 
your  other  Duties  — 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  with  the  greatest  Regard  and 
Esteem 

Your  Exc'" 

most  Obed*  &  Hb  Servt 
His  Exc^  Gen*  Washington  Elias  Boudinot. 

On  the  cover  of  the  letter,  below  the  address,  is  this 
note: 

' '  The  Post  Rider  is  desired  if  he  hears  that  his  Exc^ 
Gen*  Washington  has  passed  him  on  the  way  to  hire  a 
Rider  and  send  this  after  him. 

E.  B."i 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  92,  p.  241.  It  was  characteristic  of  the  times  that 
Mr.  Boudinot  should  also  have  utilized  his  "first  moment  of  leisure"  to  open  an 
account  with  Thomas  Stockton,  a  local  merchant,  by  ordering  a  side  of  lamb  and 
a  gallon  of  wine,  supplementing  the  latter  the  next  day  with  two  more  gallons, 
seventeen  pounds  of  sugar,  and  a  couple  of  three-shilling  "Juggs,"  his  well- 
trained  steward  adequately  completing  the  situation  by  sending  him  "50  Lcmm" 
&  50  Limes."     Cf.  Mr.  Boudinot' s  Accounts  in  Appendix  I  infra. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

NEW  jersey's  reception  OF  HER  VISITORS. 

The  news  that  Trenton  or  Princeton  was  to  be  honored 
with  the  presence  of  Congress  had  traveled  to  New  Jer- 
sey as  rapidly  as  post-riders  could  carry  it.  When  Vice- 
President  Cox  of  the  New  Jersey  State  Council  received 
on  the  24th  Mr.  Boudinot's  letter  of  the  day  before,  he 
summoned  to  the  French  Arms  tavern  a  meeting  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Trenton  and  its  neighborhood  ' '  who  being 
justly  alarmed  at  the  daring  insult  offered  to  the  Supreme 
Government  of  the  American  Union,  and  being  desirous 
of  testifying  their  zeal  in  support  of  the  Dignity  &  pri- 
vileges of  Congress  "  ^  speedily  passed  resolutions  which 
were  forwarded  to  President  Boudinot  the  next  day  by 
the  chairman  of  the  meeting: 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Trenton  and  the 
Vicinity  at  the  French  Arms  on  Tuesday  the  24  June, 

1783. 

Having  been  informed  from  undoubted  authority  that 
a  most  gross  and  daring  insult  has  been  offered  to  Con- 
gress, the  Supreme  Government  of  the  American  Union, 
by  a  number  of  lawless  People  in  arms,  assembled  at  the 
State  House  in  Philadelphia  on  Saturday  last. 

Resolved  unanimously  that  we  think  it  our  immediate 
duty  to  express  our  resentment  and  indignation  at  so 
flagitious  a  proceeding. 

Resolved  unanimously  that  we  look  upon  tyranny  and 
anarchy  with  equal  abhorrence ;  and  as  we  have,  at  the 
risque  of  every  thing  opposed  the  former,  we  are  deter- 

^Pap.  Cont.  Cong.  46,  p.  79,  John  Cox's  letter  of  the  25th  enclosing  the  reso- 
lutions. Following  these  is  the  report  of  the  Committee  consisting  of  Moore  Fur- 
man,  Stacy  Potts,  and  Benjamin  Smith  appointed  to  ascertain  what  accommodations 
were  available.  The  report  is  dated  June  25th  and  states  that  sixty  persons  can  be 
taken  care  of. 

41 


42  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

mined  at  the  same  risque,  not  to  be  wanting  in  our  efforts 
to  suppress  the  latter,  on  whatever  occasion  or  under 
whatever  form  it  may  present  itself. 

Resolved  unanimously,  that  we  consider  the  support 
of  Civil  Government  and  the  majesty  of  the  Laws  as 
among  the  first  of  Social  duties,  and  riotous  Citizens  who 
disturb  the  public  order  and  violate  the  dignity  of  the 
Union  as  the  worst  of  Enemies. 

Resolved  unanimously  that  we  feel  the  utmost  chear- 
fulness  in  pledging  our  lives  and  fortunes  to  the  Govern- 
ment under  which  we  live,  in  whatever  way  our  Services 
may  be  required,  whether  in  resisting  foreign  invasion  or 
quelling  intestine  tumults. 

Resolved  unanimously  that  we  would  deem  ourselves 
highly  honored  by  the  presence  of  Congress,  and  by  an 
opportunity  of  testifying  our  zeal  in  support  of  their 
Dignity  and  Priviledges,  should  they  in  their  wisdom 
think  proper  to  adjourn  to  or  fix  their  Residence  in  this 
State. 

Signed  by  order  and  in  behalf  of  the  Inhabitants. 

John  Cox 

David  Brearley 

Philemon  Dickinson 

Sam'  Tucker 

W"*  C.  Houston 

Sam'  W.  Stockton 

Governor  Livingston  of  New  Jersey  also  wrote  to  Mr. 
Boudinot  on  the  24th,  assuring  him  of  the  loyalty  of  the 
State,  adding  that  if  Congress  should  see  fit  to  honor  the 
State  with  its  presence  he  had  not  the  least  doubt  that  the 
citizens  of  New  Jersey  would  cheerfully  turn  out  to  re- 
pel any  violence  that  might  be  attempted ;  and  that  as 
soon  as  he  should  be  informed  of  the  movement  of  Con- 
gress to  New  Jersey,  and  that  there  was  the  least  reason 
to  apprehend  that  the  mutineers  intended  to  prosecute 
their  riotous  measures,  he  would  with  the  greatest  alac- 
rity give  the  necessary  orders,  and  think  himself  * '  not  a 
little  honored  by  being  personally  engaged  in  defending 

^  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  46,  p.  S^. 


Committee.' 


NEW  jersey's   reception   OF   HER  VISITORS  43 

the  representatives  of  the  United  States  against  every  in- 
sult and  indignity."^ 

These  communications,  of  course,  reached  Mr.  Boudi- 
not  after  his  decision  had  been  made ;  and  Trenton  had 
to  wait  until  the  winter  of  1784  before  it  became  a  Con- 
gressional residence. 

Princeton  was  first  heard  from  in  the  person  of  Colonel 
George  Morgan,  the  former  Indian  Agent,  whose  model 
farm  of  over  two  hundred  acres  was  situated  within  a 
stone's  throw  south-east  of  the  College.  On  the  brow  of 
the  long  hill  down  which  his  property  sloped  was  his  stone 
farm-house  * '  Prospect. "  This  with  all  other  buildings  on 
his  land  he  offered  to  Congress  in  the  following  letter : 

Colonel  Morgan  presents  his  most  respectful  Compli- 
ments to  his  Excellency  the  President  of  Congress,  & 
begs  leave,  through  him,  to  offer  to  Congress  the  Use  of 
several  Buildings,  on  their  own  Terms,  during  their  Stay 
at  Princeton.  One  of  them  will  afford  a  better  Room  for 
them  to  meet  in  than  they  can  be  immediately  accommo- 
dated with  elsewhere  —  Any  or  every  part  of  his  Farm  & 
Meadows  shall  also  be  at  their  Command ;  And  he  takes 
the  Liberty  to  tender  his  utmost  Services,  in  every  way 
he  can  be  usefull  to  Congress,  during  their  Residence  in 
New  Jersey. 

Prospect  June  25th,  1783.* 

The  next  day,  June  26th, the  citizens  of  Princeton  passed 
formal  resolutions  of  loyalty,  confidence,  and  welcome 
which  were  presented  to  Congress  by  Colonel  Morgan 
and  Dr.  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith,  Vice-President  of  the 
College.' 

The  Inhabitants  of  Princeton  and  its  Vicinity  being  in- 
formed that  gross  Indignities  have  been  offered  to  Con- 

'  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  68,  p.  613. 

'  /did.,  46,  p.  67.  For  the  history  of  "Prospect,"  now  the  of&cial  residence 
of  the  presidents  of  Princeton  University,  see  Princeton  University  Bulletin,  Vol. 
15.  No  3,  June,  1904. 

^  Ibid.,  20,  Vol.  2,  p.  295. 


44  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

/>J^x^    ..y^^rya^   r/t^e^^^^'     ^      r^t^ff  nre 

Colonel  George  Morgan's  Letter  to  Congress. 

gress  by  a  number  of  People  in  Arms  at  Philadelphia,  do 
resolve  unanimously 

That  we  think  it  our  Duty  to  express  the  warmest  In- 
dignation and  Resentment  at  such  insolent  Proceedings. 

That  we  equally  abhor  Tyranny  and  Anarchy,  and  as 
we  have  always  done,  so  we  will  continue,  at  every  Risque 
to  oppose  both  the  one  and  the  other  under  whatever 
Form  they  may  appear. 

That  we  esteem  the  Support  of  a  good  Government  as 
the  first  Duty  of  Virtuous  Citizens  and  consider  the  Vio- 
lators of  it  as  the  most  pernicious  Enemies. 


NEW   jersey's   reception   OF   HER   VISITORS  45 

That  we  do  with  the  utmost  Chearfullness  pledge  our 
Lives  &  Fortunes  to  the  Government  under  which  we 
Live  for  the  Protection  of  Congress  in  whatever  way  our 
Services  may  be  required,  whether  in  resisting  Foreign 
Invasions  or  in  quelling  intestine  Tumults. 

That  we  esteem  ourselves  highly  honor'd  by  the  Con- 
fidence of  Congress  in  the  Choice  of  this  Town  as  the  Place 
of  their  Residence,  [during  the  present  Tumult]  ^  and  we 
take  the  Earliest  Opportunity  to  testify  our  Zeal  to  Sup- 
port of  their  Dignity  and  Privileges,  and  that  we  will  use 
our  utmost  Exertions  for  their  comfortable  Accommo- 
dation. 

Signed  on  behalf  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Princeton  and  its 
Neighbourhood  by 

Jona  Deare  Sam'  S  Smith 

James  M'Comb  John  Little 

Robt  Stockton  Isaac  Anderson 

John  Berrien  Anth'^  Joline 

Geo  Morgan  Andrew  M'Macken 

Ch'  Beekman  Joseph  Stout 

Tho"  Wiggins  Benj"  Hunt 

Tho'  Stockton  Jacob  Schenck 

Enos  Kelsey  Jn°  Harrison 

Robert  James  Livingston   James  Hamilton 
Dan  Van  Voorhis  Stephen  Morford 

Thos  Moody  Jacob  Hyer 

Noah  Morford 
Elias  Woodruff 
George  Bergen 
Robert  Davidson* 

On  behalf  of  the  College  Dr.  Smith  also  drew  up  an 
address  whose  dignity  and  touch  of  pathos  make  it  an  ex- 
ceptional academic  document. 

May  it  please  your  Excellency, 

The  governours  &  masters  of  the  college,  happy  in  an 
opportunity  of  paying  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 

^  The  bracketed  words  are  struck  out. 

^Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  46,  p,  75  :  also  Pennsylvania  Packet  July  17th,  and 
Virginia  GazeUe,]\ily  26th,  1783.  The  manuscript  is  addressed  :  "To  his  Excel- 
lency Elias  Boudinot  Esq'.  President  of  Congress  Princeton  June  26th,  1783,'' 
and  is  endorsed  "Read  June  30th,  1783." 


46  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

their  profoundest  &  sincerest  honours,  beg  leave  to  offer 
them,  thro'  your  Excellency,  to  that  august  body. 

Convinced  how  few  accomodations  this  small  village 
possesses,  in  comparison  with  those  which,  for  several 
years.  Congress  have  enjoyed  in  a  large  &  flourishing 
city,  we  wish  to  offer  them  every  convenience  that  the 
College,  in  its  present  state,  can  afford.  If  the  Hall,  or 
the  library  room,  can  be  made  of  any  service  to  Congress, 
as  places  in  which  to  hold  their  Sessions,  or  for  any  other 
purpose,  we  pray  that  they  would  accept  of  them  during 
their  continuance  in  this  place.  And  if,  in  the  common 
shock  of  our  country  this  institution  hath  suffered  more 
than  other  places,  both  by  friends  &  foes;  from  its 
readiness  to  assist  the  one,  while  the  public  was  yet 
poor  &  unprovided  with  conveniencies  for  its  troops ; 
&  from  the  peculiar  &  marked  resentment  of  the  other, 
as  supposing  it  to  be  a  nursery  of  rebellion,  we  doubt 
not  but  the  candour  of  that  most  honourable  body 
will  readily  excuse  the  marks  of  military  fury  which  it 
still  retains. 

Signed,  in  behalf  of  the  governours 
&  masters  of  the  College,  — 

Sam*  S.  Smith,  Professor  of  Divinity 
&  Moral-Philosophy. 

Nassau- Hall 
June  2 6***  1783.^  James  Riddle,  Prof:   Math: 

^Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  46,  p.  71.  Also  Freemans  Journal,  July  l6th,  Pennsyl- 
vania Packet,  July  17th,  and  Virginia  Gazelle,  ]\ily  26th,  1783.  The  document  is 
in  Dr.  Smith's  handwriting  and  is  addressed  on  the  back  "  To  His  Excellency  Elias 
Boudinot  Esqr.  President  of  Congress  "  and  is  endorsed  "  Offer  made  by  the  Pro- 
fessors of  Naussau  hall  of  their  hall  or  library  for  the  use  of  Congress  Read  30th 
June,  1783."  The  word  "Professors"  is  struck  out  in  the  endorsement  and 
"  Gov".  &  Masters  "  inserted.  It  will  be  noticed  that  this  communication  to  Con- 
gress is  signed  by  the  vice-president  of  the  College  and  by  a  tutor,  and  not  by 
President  Witherspoon.  The  diary  of  President  Ezra  Stiles  of  Yale  (N.  Y.,  1901 ), 
Vol.  3,  p.  77,  supplies  the  information  that  Dr.  Witherspoon  passed  through  New 
Haven  a  few  days  later  "on  a  Journey  to  the  Eastward  "  so  that  it  is  practically 
certain  he  was  not  in  Princeton  when  Congress  arrived.  There  can  be  no  other  ex- 
planation for  the  fact  that  he  did  not  sign  the  College  offer  to  Congress.  His  re- 
gret at  his  absence  at  so  notable  a  juncture  must  have  been  equalled  only  by  the 
completeness  of  his  acquiescence  in  all  the  steps  which  on  his  return  to  New  Jersey 
he  found  had  been  taken  for  the  accommodation  of  Congress  by  his  fellow-towns- 
men and  by  his  colleagues  in  the  Faculty. 


,f^*^-s 


NEW  jersey's  reception   OF  HER  VISITORS  47 


'^^^££^-^t$^yi^u^ 


Letter  Offering  Nassau  Hall  to  Congress. 


48  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

Colonel  Morgan  had  meanwhile  been  scouring  the  vil- 
lage in  search  of  accommodations  for  Congress.  As  the 
half-way  stop  for  all  the  coach  lines  between  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  Princeton  had  always  boasted  excellent 
taverns,  and  more  or  less  satisfactory  accommodations 
could  without  doubt  have  been  found  in  them.  But 
tavern  life  had  few  charms  to  gentlemen  who  had  been 
driven  from  Philadelphia  partly  by  their  too  easy  acces- 
sibility. Colonel  Morgan  therefore  made  investigations 
which  resulted  in  President  Boudinot's  receiving  two 
letters.  The  first  was  from  Elias  Woodruff,  a  prominent 
local  merchant  and  sometime  quartermaster  at  Princeton 
during  the  war. 

To  His  Excellency  the  President  of  Congress 

Whereas  proposals  have  been  made  to  me  by  some 
Gentlemen  of  this  Town  for  my  Dwelling  House  for  the 
use  of  Congress  I  do  therefore  beg  leave  to  offer  it  for  that 
purpose  on  the  following  conditions. 

That  I  will  put  the  house  in  immediate  repair  and  give 
possession  in  two  Weeks  at  the  Rent  of  One  hundred 
pounds  Currency  per  Year  to  be  advanced  quarterly,  ex- 
pecting to  be  paid  for  at  least  one  quarter,  should  Con- 
gress think  proper  to  leave  it  sooner  than  that  Period. 

Mr.  Joline  who  now  lives  in  part  of  the  House,  to  be 
paid  by  Congress  a  reasonable  Sum  for  the  inconveniency 
of  moving  out,  and  to  be  allowed  the  value  of  his  Garden 
and  Grass  Lott. 

Elias  Woodruff.^ 

Princeton  i  July  1783  — 

The  other  letter  Colonel  Morgan  wrote  himself : 

Princeton  July  i"*  1783. 
Sir. 

I  find  that  Congress  &  their  Servants  can  be  accom- 
modated with  sixty  Beds  in  this  Village  &  Neighbour- 
hood ;  And  an  Offer  is  made  of  the  Buildings  &c  be- 
longing to  Messrs.  Woodruff  &  Joline,  opposite  to  the 

*Pap.  Cont  Cong.,  24,  p.  395. 


NEW  jersey's   reception   OF   HER   VISITORS  49 

College  in  which  are  two  very  large  Rooms,  either  of 
which  would  dine  forty  Persons  conveniently,  beside  six 
other  good  Rooms,  some  of  them  more  than  twenty  feet 
Square ;  an  excellent  Cellar,  two  very  good  Kitchens,  a 
back  Building  for  Servants,  a  Stable,  Garden  &  Pasture 
Lot. 

An  active  capable  useful  Person  also  offers,  to  provide 
forty  Covers,  more  or  less,  for  Congress  at  a  fix'd  Rate 
&  to  procure  or  take  Charge  of  their  Liquors  &c. 

Should  Congress  think  proper  to  erect  any  Buildings 
here,  they  shall  be  welcome  to  any  Part  of  my  Farm  at 
the  Valuation  of  any  Gentlemen  they  may  appoint;  & 
my  Neighbors  are  disposed  in  like  Manner  to  accommo- 
date Congress  with  what  Ground  may  suit  them,  as  far 
as  two  or  three  hundred  Acres. 

Should  Congress  determine  to  build,  every  Material, 
&  Workmen,  may  be  procured  at  the  shortest  Notice. 

I  am  with  great  Respect, 

your  Excellency's 

obedient  hum'*  Servant 

Geo  Morgan. 
His  Excellency  Elias  Boudinot  Esq".^ 

The  "active  capable  person"  referred  to  by  Colonel 
Morgan  was  John  Cape,  the  Trenton  inn-keeper,  at  whose 
tavern  a  ball  had  taken  place  that  April  to  celebrate  the 
declaration  of  peace.  He  was  on  the  point  of  giving  up 
business  in  New  Jersey,  but  saw  here  an  opportunity 
which  appealed  to  his  caterer's  instinct.  This  is  the 
offer  he  made  to  Colonel  Morgan : 

Princeton  July  5,  1783. 
Sir  :  — 

Should  Congress  determine  on  making  Princeton  the 
place  of  their  Residence ;  I  beg  leave  to  offer  my  service 
to  victual  the  Honble  Members ;  on  the  following  Terms. 

I  will  take  Mf  Woodruff's  House,  one  Room  of  which 
being  46  feet  by  16  will  dine  fifty  Gentlemen  conveniently. 
—  I  will  provide  forty  covers  every  day,  and  the  best 
provisions  the  country  can  afford,  with  a  desert  at  3/9 

'Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  46,  p.  63. 
4 


so 


CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 


^.//yy 


//> 


'^^tc/ii^  urx^/i.^^  c>U'^*^*t*^m.  a7t^<'>t^^^^^^J^ 


^a^. 


(^^^/^^_    <?5V^^^^  '^^y^^  ^^^^ 


John  Cape's  Offer  to  Cater  for  Congress. 


NEW   jersey's   reception   OF   HER  VISITORS  $1 

Pr  Cover,  and  will  provide  the  best  of  Wines  at  the  most 
moderate  Rates.  — 

Or,  if  the  Gentlemen  will  pay  the  Rent  of  the  House 
and  purchase  the  necessary  Equipage,  I  will  serve  them 
as  steward  for  80  Dollars  Pr  month  and  the  subsistence 
of  my  Family,  whose  services  with  mine  will  be  devoted 
to  accommodate  Congress. —  My  family  consist  of  myself, 
my  Wife  and  two  Servants  beside  three  children  who  can 
be  of  no  assistance.  —  All  other  necessary  servants  I  will 
hire  at  the  Gentlemen's  expence. 
I  am 

Your  most  Obedient  Servn* 

John  Cape. 
Col.  George  Morgan. 

On  the  inside  in  Colonel  Morgan's  writing  is  this 

MEMORANDUM 

Mr.  Cape  says  he  means  to  make  no  Profit  on  the 
Liquors  if  he  is  allowed  3/9  pr  Cover,  but  will  buy  them 
&  act  as  a  mere  Steward  therein  — 

He  says  he  will  have  Fish  Crabs  and  Lobsters  at  least 
three  days  in  the  Week  —  The  Lobsters  &  Crabs  to  be 
brought  to  Princeton  alive  —  He  is  determined  to  take 
the  House  immediately  &  to  provide  seven  Beds  in  seven 
Rooms  and  will  lodge  &  mess  such  a  Number  of  Gentle- 
men of  Congress  only  as  will  favor  him  with  their 
Company.* 

But  Congress  did  not  rent  Mr.  Woodruff's  house ;  nor 
did  Mr.  Cape's  epicurean  plan  "  to  victual  the  Honble 
members  "  appeal  to  them,  and  it  had  to  be  given  up  by 
its  author,  as  we  learn  from  a  letter  of  Anthony  Joline 
to  Colonel  John  Beatty.* 

President  Boudinot  made  his  temporary  headquarters 
at  "  Morven,"  but  no  clue  to  the  lodging  places  of  his  col- 

'  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  46,  p.  59.  This  document  is  addressed  to  "  Colonel  George 
Morgan  Princeton"  and  is  endorsed  "J.  Cape's  offer  to  victual  Congress  July  5th, 

1783." 

*  Dated  at  Princeton,  July  17th.  See  Hageman,  Vol.  2,  p.  42.  John  Cape  in 
October  became  proprietor  of  the  "noted  House  and  Stables,  formerly  called 
Hull's,  but  during  the  War,  Roubalet's  Tavern"  on  Broadway,  New  York,  near 
the  ferry  then  '•  called  Paulus-Hook."     (Royal  Gazette,  Oct.  22d,  1783.) 


52  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

leagues  has  been  discovered.  They  were  scattered 
through  the  village ;  and  although  the  average  number 
of  Congressmen  in  Princeton  at  a  given  time  during  the 
summer  as  shown  by  the  yea-and-nay  votes  recorded  in 
the  Journal  was  only  twenty-two,  and  although  sixty  beds 
were  at  their  disposal,  yet  the  accommodations  appear  to 
have  been  by  no  means  adequate.  Some  of  the  members 
were  accompanied  by  their  wives  and  servants,  and  the 
presence  of  these  additional  new-comers,  together  with 
that  of  a  perpetual  stream  of  visitors,  complicated  the 
lodging  problem.  James  Madison,  whose  Southern  up- 
bringing had  given  him  larger  ideas  of  comfort  than  any 
Jersey  rural  lodgings  could  satisfy,  was  sorely  tried  by 
the  narrowness  of  his  Princeton  quarters.  He  had  met 
with  difficulty  in  getting  any  at  all,  and  when  at  last  he 
and  his  colleague,  Mr.  Jones,  secured  a  room  they  found 
things  too  crowded  for  comfort  or  for  the  dispatch  of 
business.  Madison  grumbled  exceedingly  that  he  and 
Jones  had  to  share  one  bed  in  a  room  not  ten  feet  square, 
and  worse  than  all,  *  *  without  a  single  accomodation  for 
writing,"  save,  as  he  complains  to  Jefferson,  "  in  a  posi- 
tion that  scarcely  admits  the  use  of  any  of  my  limbs.  "^ 

Dissatisfaction  with  local  accomodations  is  a  familiar 
plaint  in  all  the  letters  dated  from  Princeton  during  the 
summer  by  members  of  Congress.  Even  President 
Boudinot,  who  was  living  with  his  sister,  Mrs.  Stockton, 
found  the  arrangement  ill-advised,  and  after  less  than  a 
month  of  life  at  "  Morven  "  sent  the  following  communi- 
cation to  Congress : 

The  President  begs  leave  to  inform  Congress,  that  the 
present  Situation  of  his  Family  is  extremely  disagreeable 
as  well  as  unnecessarily  expensive  to  the  united  States, 
two  Households  being  kept  up  instead  of  one  —  That  he 
cannot  remain  here  in  reputation  much  longer,  without 

'  See  his  letters  to  his  father  August  30th,  to  Edmund  Randolph,  August 
30th,  and  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  September  20th,  etc. 


NEW  jersey's   reception   OF   HER  VISITORS  53 

removing  the  Family  and  Furniture  from  Philadelphia  to 
this  Town,  which  he  intends  doing  without  delay,  if  not 
disagreeable  to  Congress,  and  which  he  thought  it  neces- 
sary previously  to  acquaint  them  with. 

A  House  should  be  provided  in  this  Town,  and  it  will 
be  a  considerable  saving  in  the  expenses,  to  give  up  the 
House  in  Philadelphia  — 

The  President  wishes  that  a  Committee  may  be  ap- 
pointed to  consider  &  report  on  this  Subject  or  some 
other  Measure  taken  for  the  Purpose  more  agreeable  to 
Congress. 

Princeton  July  2 1 .  1783.* 

A  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Williamson,  Izard, 
and  Clarke,  was  accordingly  appointed,  and  on  August 
nth  reported: 

That  as  it  is  inexpedient  for  the  President  to  keep  more 
than  one  House  at  the  public  Expence  such  House  should 
be  near  the  Place  where  Congress  sits 

And  that  [the  President]  He  write  to  the  Superintend- 
ent of  Finance  to  give  up  the  House  in  which  the  Presi- 
dent lately  lived  in  Philadelphia.'' 

The  two  following  memoranda  undoubtedly  refer  to  the 
same  matter,  though  undated  and  lacking  other  identify- 
ing marks : 

Resolved  that  the  president  take  a  house  proper  for  his 
accomodation.' 

and 

till  congress  can  be  informed  of  the  rent  of  the  presi- 
dents house  in  Philad*  and  the  time  for  wh'"*  it  is  engaged.* 

But  Boudinot  found  the  selection  of  a  suitable  house  in 
Princeton  no  easy  task,  as  another  communication  sent  to 
Congress  on  September  ist  shows: 

1  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  59,  Vol.  3,  p.  59. 

*  The  bracketed  words  are  struck  out  and  "  He  "  inserted. 
^  Ibid.,  23,  p.  359 ;  also  Boudinot,  Vol.  i,  p.  272. 

*  Ibid.,  23,  p.  361.  The  rent  of  the  Philadelphia  house  for  the  previous 
year  was  j(866.6o  and  taxes  on  the  same  were  5291.10  {ibid.,  23,  p.  367). 


54  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

The  President  desires  to  inform  Congress  that  agree- 
ably to  the  reference  made  to  him  on  the  day  of 
he  has  done  all  in  his  power  to  procure  a  House  for  his 
residence  in  this  Town,  in  order  to  remove  his  Family 
from  Philadelphia  and  to  give  up  the  House  there ;  but 
hitherto  has  not  been  able  to  succeed  —  He  thinks  it  is 
his  duty  to  give  this  information  to  Congress,  as  the  rea- 
son of  his  Conduct  in  not  complying  with  their  wishes  & 
to  wait  their  further  orders. 

Princeton  Sept.  i.   1783.^ 

Three  weeks  later  Elias  Woodruff,  who  had  offered  his 
house  to  Congress  when  Colonel  Morgan  was  seeking 
accommodations  in  June,  made  an  offer  to  Mr.  Boudinot 
in  the  following  terms : 

Proposals  from  Elias  Woodruff  of  Princeton  to  Con- 
gress for  renting  his  house  for  the  use  of  the    President. 

Elias  Woodruff  doth  propose  to  finish  off  his  dwelling 
house  as  soon  as  possible  &  he  will  rent  the  same  to  Con- 
gress for  the  use  of  the  President  for  the  space  of  three 
months ;  and  will  give  possession  on  any  day  after  the 
26^^  Instant. 

He  expects  to  be  paid  by  Congress  for  the  rent  of  the 
said  house  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  pounds  per  annum ; 
and  to  receive  at  the  time  he  gives  possession  one 
month's  rent  in  advance. 

In  case  he  should  not  finish  the  upper  &  lower  rooms 
of  the  east  end  of  the  house  within  one  month  after  the 
President  has  taken  possession  of  it,  he  will  then  receive 
as  rent  for  that  month  six  pounds,  and  the  same  for  every 
month  after  while  the  President  occupies  it  until  they  be 
finished ;  &  after  that  time  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred 
pounds  per  annum  as  expressed  above. 

Elias  Woodruff. 

Princeton 

September  18*"  1783.^ 

^Pap.  Cont  Cong.,  59,  Vol.  3,  p.  61.  The  blanks  are  in  the  manuscript, 
and  should  be  filled  by  "  nth  "  and  "  August." 

^ Ibid.,  78,  Vol.  24,  p.  409.  Endorsement:  "Proposals  E.  Woodruff /  Sep*. 
1 8th,  1783,  for  renting  his  House  to  the  President  of  Congress — " 


NEW   JERSEY  S   RECEPTION   OF   HER   VISITORS  55 

Judging  from  a  reference  to  this  house  in  a  statement 
of  available  quarters  issued  by  the  citizens  of  Princeton 
in  October,  when  the  probable  departure  of  Congress 
began  to  be  noised  abroad,  we  are  led  to  believe  that 
Mr.  Boudinot  accepted  Woodruff's  offer. 

Whatever  discomforts  the  members  of  Congress  may 
have  had  to  suffer,  there  is  no  doubt  that  their  advent 
was  a  boon  to  Princeton.  It  had  leaped  at  a  bound  into 
national  importance;  from  a  "little  obscure  village  "  it 
had  within  the  week  "become  the  capital  of  America." 
And  where  the  "  almost  perfect  silence  "  of  a  country 
hamlet  was  wont  to  reign,  now  nothing  was  "to  be  seen 
or  heard  but  the  passing  and  rattling  of  wagons,  coaches 
and  chairs."  To  supply  the  metropolitan  taste  of  Con- 
gressmen the  produce  of  Philadelphia  markets  was 
brought  up  every  week,  with  the  result  that  the  village 
street  now  echoed  to  the  unfamiliar  ' '  crying  about  of 
pineapples,  oranges,  lemons,  and  every  luxurious  article 
both  foreign  and  domestic."^ 

The  proclamation  calling  Congress  to  Princeton  had 
named  Thursday  the  26th  as  the  date  of  the  first  meeting 
in  the  new  residence,  but  owing  to  the  fact  that  a  quorum 
could  not  be  obtained  ^  no  session  took  place  until  the  fol- 
lowing Monday,  June  30th. 

Contemporary  authority  is  lacking  for  the  commonly 
accepted  statement  that  Congress  sat  in  the  college 
library-room.'     The  Journals  of  Congress,  printed  and 

*  H.  C.  Alexander,  Life  of  J.  A.  Alexander,  Vol.  I,  p.  i6,  being  letter  of 
Ashbel  Green,  a  senior  in  college,  to  his  father,  July  5th,  1783.  Also  Indepen- 
dent Gazetteer,  November  1st,  1783. 

*  Madison  to  Edmund  Randolph,  Philadelphia,  June  30th  :  "I  left  Princeton  on 
friday  evening  when  six  States  only  had  met.  Rhode  Isla"*  made  a  seventh  on 
Saturday.  To-day  I  suppose  they  will  be  on  business. "  See  also  Morris' Diary, 
June  26th. 

^  The  only  allusion  to  this  apartment  that  may  be  termed  official  is  to  be  found 
in  the  endorsement  of  a  committee  report  on  the  Indian  question  in  August,  where 
we  read  that  the  report  was  to  be  considered  by  a  special  committee  "  to  meet  this 
afternoon  at  6  o'clock  in  the  Library  room."     (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  30,  p.  27.) 


56  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

manuscript,  contain  no  specific  reference  to  the  place 
where  the  sessions  were  held ;  the  minutes  of  the  Trustees 
of  the  College  are  equally  silent,  while  the  records  of  the 
faculty,  if  they  ever  existed  for  that  period,  have  long 
since  disappeared.  The  circumstantial  evidence  in  the 
case  tends,  I  think,  to  show  that  the  first  few  meetings 
of  Congress  at  Princeton  were  not  held  in  the  college 
library-room,  but  in  Colonel  Morgan's  farm-house.  For 
it  will  be  noticed  that  the  address  offering  the  use  of 
Nassau  Hall,  the  building  which  contained  the  library- 
room  and  also  the  chapel,  or  prayer-hall  as  it  was  then 
called,  was  dated  June  26th.  The  endorsement  shows 
that  it  was  read  in  Congress  on  Monday  the  30th  at  the 
first  Princeton  meeting.  The  Journal  for  the  day  makes 
no  mention  of  the  address,  but  from  a  manuscript  "  Com- 
mittee Book  "  of  Congress  we  learn  that  it  was  referred 
to  Messrs.  Read,  McHenry,  and  Higginson,^  who  re- 
ported on  July  2d.^  If  Congress  were  already  occupy- 
ing Nassau  Hall  on  the  30th  at  the  first  meeting,  it  is 
surely  incredible  that  an  acknowledgment  of  the  college 
courtesy  —  a  courtesy  so  vital  to  administrative  comfort 
and  efficiency  —  would  have  been  withheld  until  the  third 
meeting.  Indeed,  there  would  have  been  no  necessity 
for  referring  the  address  to  a  committee  to  consider  the 
acceptance  or  refusal  of  the  offer  it  contained ;  and  that 
this  was  the  object  of  such  reference  is  evident  from  the 
wording  of  the  resolution  that  ensued  upon  its  report : 

**  An  address  of  the  governors  and  masters  of  the  Col- 
lege was  read,  offering  to  Congress  the  use  of  the  Hall, 
library  room  and  every  other  convenience  that  the  college 
in  its  present  situation  can  Afford,  Whereupon 

* '  Resolved  That  the  president  inform  the  governors  and 

*  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  i86,  p.  109,  recording  the  appointment  of  these  gentlemen 
a  coDMnittee  on  "  Resolutions  of  Inhabitants  of  Trenton  &  Princeton  &  gov"  of 
Nassau  College  and  Note  of  Col.  G.  Morgan." 

*  Ibid.,  191,  p.  41.     See  tX'^  Journal  for  July  2d. 


NEW   jersey's   reception   OF   HER  VISITORS  57 

and  masters  of  the  college  that  Congress  entertain  a 
proper  sense  of  their  obliging  offer  and  accept  the  use  of 
such  parts  of  the  College  as  are  immediately  necessary  for 
their  sessions  and  for  the  ofi&cers  attending  them  during 
their  stay  at  Princeton."  ^ 

The  words  of  the  last  clause  of  Mr.  Boudinot's  letter  in 
obedience  to  the  resolution  may  also  be  construed  in  sup- 
port of  the  view  above  stated. 

The  Rev*^  Mr.  Smith 

Professor  &c  in  the  College  of  Princeton 

Princeton  3d  July  1783 
Reifi  and  Dear  Sir 

I  take  a  peculiar  pleasure  in  the  honor  of  obeying  the 
unanimous  direction  of  Congress,  in  presenting  their 
acknowledgment  of  the  polite  and  respectful  conduct  of 
the  Governor  and  Masters  of  the  College,  on  their  ad- 
journment to  this  Town. 

I  cannot  execute  this  agreeable  business  more  effect- 
ually than  by  enclosing  a  copy  of  their  act  of  yesterday, 
which  fully  explains  their  wishes. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be  &c  &c 

E.  B.2 

The  evidence  favoring  the  view  that  "  Prospect  "  was 
the  scene  of  the  opening  meetings  is  more  compelling  in 
its  strength.  Congress  had  come  to  Princeton  hastily 
and  apparently  without  making  any  effort  to  ascertain 
definitely  the  practical  accommodations  of  the  village. 
Mr.  Boudinot  may  have  had  Nassau  Hall  in  his  mind  as 
a  meeting  place  at  the  outset ;  but  when  Colonel  Morgan, 
who  was  well  acquainted  in  Congress,  stated  in  his  letter 
of  the  25th  that  one  of  his  buildings  contained  "a  better 
room  for  them  to  meet  in  "  than  the  members  could^^be 
"  immediately  accommodated  with  elsewhere,"  Mr.  Bou- 
dinot probably  accepted  the  offer  as  at  least  a  temporary 
arrangement.     Furthermore  in  the  list  of  available  ac- 

^  Journal,  July  2d. 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  i6,  p.  207. 


58  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

commodations  issued  in  October  by  the  citizens  of  Prince 
ton,  Colonel  Morgan  announces  his  willingness  to  have 
**  the  Congress  Room  "  in  his  house  fitted  up  for  winter 
use  if  desired.  It  is  difficult  to  explain  this  designation 
of  any  room  at  "  Prospect  "  unless  a  previous  occupation 
of  it  by  Congress  had  given  it  a  right  to  that  title. 
Finally  it  is  noted  in  a  memorandum  book  of  Charles 
Thomson,  Secretary  of  Congress,  that  the  sheet  of  paper 
bearing  the  record  of  the  distribution  of  ten  sets  of  the 
Journal  was  lost  "  in  removing  the  Office  from  the  House 
of  Col.  Morgan  to  the  College."^  Unfortunately,  this 
record  is  dated  merely  "  1 783  "  ;  but  when  half  of  the  rooms 
in  Nassau  Hall  were  vacant  it  is  altogether  improbable, 
considering  the  close  relation  existing  between  the  Sec- 
retary of  Congress  and  that  body  itself,  that  he  should 
have  used  Colonel  Morgan's  house  as  an  office  if  Congress 
were  sitting  in  Nassau  Hall.  It  is  easier  to  believe  that 
he  moved  his  belongings  over  to  the  college  building  be- 
cause Congress  was  moving  also. 

We  may,  then,  take  it  for  granted  that  the  first  three 
meetings  (June  30th,  July  ist  and  2d)  were  held  in  Colonel 
Morgan's  house,  and  that  thereafter  the  sessions  were 
held  in  the  college  building  —  in  the  library  room  pre- 
sumably, except  on  state  occasions,  when  they  were  held 
in  the  prayer-hall.  The  library-room  which  had  been 
stripped  by  the  British  was  on  the  north  side  of  the  second 
floor  over  the  main  entrance,  and  was  about  thirty  by 
twenty-four  feet  in  size.*  It  opened  on  to  the  long  cen- 
tral hall  which  ran  through  each  floor  from  east  to  west. 
Behind  it  and  across  the  hall  was  the  door  into  the  gallery 
of  the  chapel.  The  committees  of  Congress  are  said  to 
have  made  use  of  the  various  rooms  intended  for  students 
but  at  that  time  unoccupied.'     The  offices  and  papers  of 

iPap.  Cont.  Cong.,  i8l,  folio  I. 

*John  Maclean  in  Presbyterian  Magazine,  Vol.  i  (1851),  p.  96. 

^  Autobiography  of  A.  Green,  ed,  J.  H.  Jones,  p.  142. 


NEW  jersey's   reception   OF   HER  VISITORS  59 

the  Paymaster  General  and  of  the  Department  of  War 
had  been  brought  up  to  Princeton  and  were  stored  in 
Nassau  Hall  until  Colonel  John  Pierce,  the  Paymaster 
General,  and  Major  Jackson,  Assistant  Secretary  of  War, 
obtained  leave  to  take  them  back  to  Philadelphia.'  The 
belongings  of  the  Department  of  Finance  had  remained 
at  the  city,  although  Morris  himself  had  left  Philadelphia, 
as  we  have  already  seen.  On  the  30th  of  June  Morris 
went  to  Princeton  from  Trenton  and  there  wrote  to  Mr. 
Boudinot  asking  if  he  might  return  to  Philadelphia.  The 
President  on  the  same  day  voiced  the  somewhat  ungra- 
cious answer  of  Congress : 

Princeton  so*"*  June  1783. 
The  Honble  Robert  Morris,  Esq. 
Sir, 

I  liave  the  honor  of  informing  you,  that  I  laid  your 
letter  of  this  morning  before  Congress,  and  as  there  was 
no  entry  on  our  Journals  relating  to  your  leaving  the  City 
they  thought  it  sufficient  to  direct  me  to  inform  you,  that 
they  had  no  objections  to  you  returning  to  Philadelphia 
and  resuming  the  business  of  your  department.  On  this 
information  I  doubt  not  but  that  you  will  immediately 
proceed  to  the  City  accordingly. 

I  shall  be  glad  of  a  line  now  and  then,  if  anything  turns 
up  worth  communicating. 

I  have  the  honor  &c 

E.  B.2 

And  on  July  ist  Morris  set  out  for  Philadelphia,  arriv- 
ing there  the  next  day.' 

1  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.  165,  p.  665  ;  and  149,  Vol.  3,  p.  53. 
^  Ibid.y  16,  p.  21. 
'  Diary. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  PRINCETON  SESSION  BEGINS 

Three  leading  questions  presented  themselves  to  the 
immediate  consideration  of  Congress  when  President 
Boudinot  called  it  to  order  at  "  Prospect "  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  30th :  the  payment  and  disbandment  of  the 
army,  the  solution  of  the  peace  establishment  problem, 
and  the  selection  of  a  permanent  federal  residence  for  the 
government.  There  were,  of  course,  many  other  matters 
obviously  demanding  attention,  as,  for  instance,  the  for- 
eign relations  of  the  United  States,  the  relations  with  the 
Indians,  and  in  particular,  the  inadequacy  of  the  Articles 
of  Confederation  to  the  new  era ;  but  these  questions  had 
not  the  special  claims  of  urgency  and  of  prominence 
gained  from  recent  events  that  made  the  others  the  chief 
bones  of  contention  during  the  rest  of  the  summer. 

Before  even  the  three  leading  questions  could  be  ap- 
proached, however,  the  mutiny  had  to  be  considered.  As 
a  matter  of  immediate  concern,  and  one  on  which  Con- 
gress was  practically  unanimous,  it  was  taken  up  without 
delay,  and  when  on  June  30th  Alexander  Hamilton 
moved^  that  Major  General  Robert  Howe  be  sent  to 
Philadelphia  with  a  detachment  to  bring  the  mutineers 
sharply  to  their  senses,  the  motion  was  at  once  referred 
to  a  committee  consisting  of  its  maker,  Oliver  Ellsworth, 
and  Theodoric  Bland.  But  that  afternoon  General  Howe, 
with  1,500  New  England  troops  —  three  regiments  of  in- 
fantry, and  a  detachment  of  artillery  —  sent  by  Washing- 
ton from  headquarters  at  Newburgh  in  response  to  Presi- 
dent Boudinot's  letter  of  the  21st,  arrived  in  the  neigh- 

^Pap.  G)nt.  Cong.,  36,  Vol.  4,  p.  167. 

60 


THE   PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  6l 

borhood  of  Princeton  to  halt  for  a  much  needed  twenty- 
four  hours'  rest.  The  detachment  had  left  Newburgh 
on  the  25th,  camping  that  night  at  Forest  Dean,  eight 
miles  from  West  Point.  It  had  then  proceeded  to  Ring- 
wood,  where  a  halt  was  made  for  the  night  of  the  26th.^ 
The  march  was  continued  via  Pompton  and  Morristown. 
What  with  the  rough  roads  through  the  Jersey  moun- 
tains, the  heat  of  the  weather,  the  want  of  shoes,  and  the 
lack  of  provisions  and  medical  attendance,  the  condition 
of  the  men  was  anything  but  happy.  General  Howe  in- 
formed Washington  of  his  arrival  at  Princeton  the  next 
day. 

Prince  Town  i"*  of  July  1783. 
Sir 

I  arrived  yesterday  with  the  Troops  within  four  Miles 
of  this  Place  where  they  will  halt  until  twelve  to  Night  — 

The  President  of  Congress  having  inform'd  me  that  he 
has  given  your  Excellency  particular  Account  of  the 
Operations  of  the  Mutineers  &  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Executive  of  Pennsylvania  thereupon  as  well  as  the  Steps 
taken  by  Congress  in  consequence  thereof,  I  shall  not 
trouble  you  Sir  with  repeating  the  Details  — 

A  Committee  has  been  appointed  by  Congress  with 
which  I  have  had  two  Conferences,  &  as  far  as  I  can 
gather  from  them  the  Intention  of  Congress  Appears  to 
be  a  Determination  to  search  this  Matter  to  the  Bottom  — 
&  to  punish  if  possible  both  in  civil  &  military  Line  the 
Persons  principally  concern'd  in  the  Mutiny  —  in  which 
they  conceive  their  own  Dignity  &  that  of  Government 
to  be  deeply  wounded  —  The  ultimate  Views  of  Congress 
I  expect  to  Know  this  Eve*  &  shall  instantly  convey  to 
your  Excellency  — 

I  shall  move  with  the  Troops  for  Trenton  at  twelve  to- 
Night  —  where  about  half  of  them  will  be  left  for  the 
present,  at  least  that  Number  being  in  a  Situation  hardly 
fit  to  proceed  —  Our  March  was  attended  with  every  Dif- 
ficulty which  could  result  from  excessive  Heat,  Want  of 

1  Letters  to  Washington,  63,  folio  266,  and  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  152,  Vol.  2,  p. 
385,  Washington  to  Boudinot,  June  25  th. 


62  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

Provisions  &  of  Shoes Many  of  the  Men  have  been 

&  are  ill  —  &  more  I  expect  will  be  —  Only  one  Surgeon 
is  with  us,  &  he  is  without  Medicines  —  should  it  be 
thought  by  Congress  necessary  for  us  to  remain  any  Time 
here  it  would  I  believe  be  requisite  to  order  up  one  of 
the  Gentlemen  of  the  Hospital  &  all  the  regimental  Sur- 
geons —  the  latter  indeed  have  been  ordered  already  — 

I  hope  to  be  enabled  to  write  more  explicitly  to  your 
Excellency  even  by  this  Opportunity  —  tho'  fearing  it 
might  go  before  I  was  further  inform 'd  I  thought  it  my 
Duty  to  write  this  much  — 

I  have  been  inform 'd  that  the  Residue  of  Jackson's 
Reg*  were  not  to  march  &  I  am  very  glad  it  has  happened 
but  lest  that  should  not  be  true  I  have  obtain'd  Permission 
&  shall  remand  them  myself  which  I  hope  will  meet  your 
Excellency's  Approbation. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be 

with  the  greatest  Respect 
Sir 
Your  Excellency's 

most  obedient  servant 

Rob*  Howe.^ 

Hamilton's  committee  reported  that  afternoon,  and  it 
was  resolved  that  General  Howe  be  directed  to  proceed 
to  Philadelphia  with  such  part  of  his  force  as  he  might 
deem  necessary  to  * '  confine  and  bring  to  trial  all  such 
persons  belonging  to  the  army  as  have  been  principally 
active  in  the  late  mutiny,  to  disarm  the  remainder,  and 
to  examine  fully  into  all  the  circumstances  relating  there- 
to." And  if,  in  the  execution  of  the  resolution,  anything 
should  arise  that  concerned  the  civil  authorities,  or  re- 
quired their  aid.  General  Howe  was  empowered  to  apply 
to  the  State  Executive  of  Pennsylvania  for  co-operation. 
It  was  also  resolved  that  the  State  Executive  be  informed 
of  General  Howe's  orders  and  requested  to  render  him 
any  necessary  assistance. 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  63,  folio  272-3. 


THE   PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  63 

The  fear  of  the  majority  to  give  offense  to  private  in- 
dividuals is  revealed  in  the  vague  manner  in  which  the 
suspected  civilian  connection  with  the  mutiny  is  alluded 
to  in  the  resolution  as  it  was  finally  passed.  The  com- 
mittee had  stated  it  more  bluntly:  "  And  in  case,  in  the 
progress  of  the  investigation,  it  should  appear  that  any 
persons  not  belonging  to  the  army  have  been  concerned 
in  promoting  or  abetting  the  disorder  of  the  soldiery, 
that  application  be  made  to  the  civil  authority  of  the  State 
to  proceed  against  them  as  the  law  shall  direct."  This 
was  tempered  into  an  innocuous  generality.  The  para- 
graph directing  that  the  State  Executive  of  Pennsylvania 
be  informed  of  General  Howe's  orders  was  a  courteous 
touch  added  by  President  Boudinot  himself,  and  the 
clause  was  inserted  in  the  manuscript  by  his  own  hand.^ 

A  copy  of  the  resolution  was  given  to  General  Howe 
that  evening,  and  he  promptly  forwarded  it  to  Washing- 
ton with  a  second  letter,  whose  more  than  usually  impos- 
sible chirography  in  the  manuscript  testifies  eloquently  to 
its  author's  haste. 

Late  at  night  i**  July  1783. 
Sir, 

The  enclos'd  Resolution  of  Congress  has  been  just 
now  handed  me  &  the  Express  sets  off  in  a  moment,  ful- 
ler Instructions  are  to  be  given  me.  my  situation  appears 
to  me  to  be  critical,  much  seems  to  me  Expected  from  me 
&  whatever  I  do  may  on  our  side  be  thought  too  little,  on 
the  other  too  much,  for  unhappily  Congress  &  the  state 
of  Pennsylvania  ^at  least  the  Executive  of  it)  differ  widely 
in  sentiments.  An  Exact  detail  of  Every  thing  I  do,  or 
mean  to  do  should  I  have  time  to  transcribe  it  previously 
to  its  Execution  shall  be  Convey 'd  to  my  General,  whose 
advice,  Instructions  &  Commands  it  will  be  my  pride  and 
happiness  to  follow  and  obey.  Many  of  the  mutineers 
have  been  furlough'd  contrary  to  the  inclination  of  Con- 
gress, and  many  of  them,  as  it  is  said,  some  of  the  most 
atrocious  Offenders.     There  is  something  in  the  Conduct 

^  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  21,  p.  355. 


64  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

of  those  Even  of  character  so  mysterious  as  to  have  excited 
suspicion,  but  as  nothing  Certain  can  as  yet  be  obtain'd 
I  shall  not  arraign  them.  The  Express  waits  and  is  in 
such  a  hurry  to  set  off  that  I  have  not  time  to  have  this 
letter  Copied  which  I  beg  of  you  to  be  so  good  as  to 
Excuse 

I  have  the  honour  to  be 

With  the  greatest  Respect  sir  your  Excellency's 
most  ob* 
hum"*  serv* 

Rob*  How^e.^ 

After  the  express  had  left  with  this  dispatch  General 
Howe  pushed  on  to  Trenton,  and  there  spent  the  night 
of  July  2nd ;  but  while  his  detachment  was  crossing  the 
Delaware  the  next  day  he  wrote  again  to  Washington : 

Trenton  July  3"^  1783. 
Sir, 

The  troops  halted  at  this  place  last  night  and  are 
now  crossing  the  river  for  Philadelphia.  Though  Con- 
gress in  their  Resolution  seem  to  leave  me  the  Judge  of 
the  number  requisite  to  the  purposes  they  have  in  view, 
yet  the  committee  of  Congress,  with  whom  I  was  directed 
to  confer  gave  it  as  their  opinion  upon  my  report  to  them 
of  the  numbers  I  had  with  me,  that  there  were  not  more 
than  they  thought  sufficient.  They  appear  to  have  in 
view  among  other  objects  the  tryal  of  both  officers  and 
men  by  general  court  martial  many  circumstances  seem- 
ing to  indicate  to  them  that  several  of  the  former,  beside 
those  who  have  escaped  have  been  at  the  bottom  of  this 
unhappy  affair.  When  I  last  did  myself  the  honor  of 
writing  your  Excellency  I  purposed  leaving  part  of  the 
men  here ;  but  Colonel  Pickering  (upon  my  desiring  him 
to  examine)  having  reported  to  me  that  no  possible  shel- 
ter could  be  found  them  ;  and  as  I  expect  waggons  or  boats 
to  convey  those  who  cannot  march  I  thought  it  more 
prudent  to  take  them  all  on  —  Not  only  because  it  would 
be  more  convenient  to  the  men  than  to  stay  here ;  but 
because  I  had  reason  to  apprehend  that  a  return  of  some 

^  Letters  to  Washington  63,  folio  274. 


THE    PRINCETON    SESSION    BEGINS  6$ 

at  this  crisis  would  be  dissatisfactory  to  those  remaining 
and  in  the  service  we  are  upon  this  circumstance  is  worth 
attending  to.  As  soon  as  I  get  up  I  shall  hasten  to  a 
conclusion  of  this  business  by  every  possible  means,  which 
duty,  inclination,  and  my  private  interest  combine  to  in- 
duce me  to  finish  with  the  greatest  expedition.  I  write 
this  letter  by  a  casual  conveyance  having  nothing  at 
present  worth  transmitting  by  express. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  with  the  greatest  respect.   Sir, 
Your  Excellency's  most  obedient 
very  humble  Servant 

Rob*  Howe^ 

Near  Trenton  he  met  General  St.  Clair  coming  to 
Princeton,  and  from  him  he  received  the  latest  information 
as  to  the  situation  at  Philadelphia.^ 

The  unfortunate  condition  of  his  troops  was  temporarily 
mitigated  during  the  next  two  days,  thanks  to  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  Congressional  committee ;  for  it  was  un- 
undoubtedly  owing  to  the  representations  of  Messrs. 
Hamilton,  Ellsworth,  and  Bland  that  President  Boudinot 
was  empowered  to  write  to  Major  Jackson : 

The  President  of  Congress  presents  his  respectful  com- 
pliments to  the  Assistant  Secretary  at  War,  and  informs 
him,  that  it  is  the  Sense  of  the  Members  of  Congress 
present  here,  making  seven  States,  that  the  detachment 
under  Gen^  Howe  be  furnished  with  an  additional  Ration 
of  Rum  for  the  3d  and  4th  days  of  July  instant.  It  is 
meant  an  additional  Ration  for  each  day. 

Princeton  2d  July  1783.' 

The  passage  of  these  troops  through  Princeton  gave  rise 
to  a  rumor  which  found  utterance  in  the  New  York 
Royal  Gazette  for  July  12th  to  the  effect  that  five  hundred 
men  of  the  Massachusetts  Line,  with  a  number  of  Jersey 
troops  and  eight  pieces  of  cannon,  were  guarding  Con- 
gress in  its  new  abode. 

*  Letters  to  Washington  63,  folio  290.     ( Signed,  not  written,  by  Howe. ) 

*  Ibid.,  63,  folio  287,  St.  Clair  to  Washington,  Princeton,  July  2d. 
'  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.  16,  p.  204. 


66  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

The  detachment  reached  Philadelphia  on  Saturday, 
July  5th,  and  tents  having  been  procured,  camp  was 
pitched  near  Germantown,  two  miles  from  the  city  limits. 
With  the  city  itself  little  or  no  communication  was 
allowed.  General  Howe  immediately  took  step  to  insti- 
tute his  court-martial ;  but  in  his  report  to  Washington 
of  July  7th  ^  he  already  regrets  that  he  has  so  little 
means  of  investigation,  and  he  hopes  that  the  suggestion 
he  had  previously  made  to  the  effect  that  a  Judge  Advo- 
cate should  attend  the  court-martial  may  be  carried  out. 
The  history  of  the  court-martial  will  be  narrated  later, 
when  the  September  report  thereon  comes  to  our  notice. 
At  present  affairs  at  Princeton  claim  attention. 

On  July  ist,  after  General  Howe's  instructions  had 
been  passed,  the  report  of  Hamilton  and  Ellsworth  on 
the  mutiny  was  delivered  and  was  spread  in  full  on  the 
Journal.  The  next  day,  in  view  of  the  proximity  of 
Howe's  detachment,  Mercer,  seconded  by  Hamilton, 
moved,  although  the  Journal  does  not  show  it,  that  Con- 
gress adjourn  to  meet  again  at  Philadelphia  on  a  date  to 
be  selected  ^ ;  but  Congress  was  not  willing  to  return  just 
yet,  and  a  substitute  motion  offered  by  Mr,  Izard  and 
seconded  by  Mr.  Higginson,  who  had  no  love  for  Phila- 
delphia, expressed  more  accurately  general  Congressional 
sentiment : 

"The  Authority  of  Congress  having  been  grossly  in- 
sulted by  a  body  of  armed  Soldiers,  on  the  2ist  Ult°.,  in 
Philadelphia,  &  repeated  applications  having  been  made, 
without  effect,  to  the  Executive  Council  of  Pennsylvania, 
for  protection  against  similar  insults.  Resolved  that  until 
Congress  shall  receive  satisfactory  assurances  of  protec- 
tion, it  will  neither  be  safe,  or  honourable  for  them  to 
return  to  Philadelphia.' 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  63,  folio  302. 
*Pap.  Cont.  Cong,,  36,  Vol,  4,  p.  167. 
^Ibid.,  36,  Vol.  2,  pp.  163  and  165. 


THE   PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  67 

Mr.  Mercer's  rejected  motion  was  the  first  of  several 
attempts  made  during  the  summer  to  get  Congress  back 
to  the  Pennsylvania  capital.  It  was  probably  inspired 
by  Hamilton,  in  whose  handwriting  the  original  manu- 
script of  the  motion  is  to  be  found,  and  who  had  only 
with  reluctance  advised  departure  from  the  city.  At 
this  early  date  he  perceived  very  clearly  that,  apart  from 
the  fact  that  by  the  presence  of  General  Howe's  detach- 
ment the  avowed  purpose  of  the  removal  to  Princeton 
was  now  accomplished,  namely,  that  more  effectual  meas- 
ures might  be  taken  for  suppressing  the  revolt  and  main- 
taining the  dignity  and  authority  of  the  United  States, 
the  chief  drawback  to  a  continued  session  at  Princeton 
would  be  the  increased  difficulty  to  obtain  a  quorum. 
Accordingly,  when  Mercer's  motion  failed  of  support  he 
himself,  with  James  Madison  seconding  it,  offered  anoth- 
er, which  met  with  favor,  and  ordered  that  the  States  not 
present  in  Congress  ' '  be  informed  that  it  is  indispensable 
they  should  without  loss  of  time  send  forward  a  delega- 
tion to  Congress."  ^  According  to  the  Articles  of  Confed- 
eration seven  States  represented  by  at  least  two  members 
each  constituted  a  quorum  in  general  matters,  nine  States 
similarly  represented  being  required  in  matters  of  prime 
importance.  On  at  least  seven  occasions  during  the  first 
six  weeks  of  the  stay  of  Congress  at  Princeton  it  was  im- 
possible to  get  any  quorum,  and  it  is  really  with  a  feeling 
of  surprise  that  we  read,  after  encountering  four  of  these 
occasions  within  six  days,  that  nine  States  were  actually 
got  together  on  July  29th  when  the  treaty  with  Sweden 
was  considered,  adopted  and  ratified.  Attendance  im- 
proved during  the  summer  and  autumn,  and  not  a  little 
of  the  credit  for  this  improvement  may  be  ascribed  to  the 
effort  begun  by  Hamilton's  motion  of  July  2d. 

After   the  motion  was  passed    Governor  Livingston's 

"^  Journal f  July  2d. 


68  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT    PRINCETON 

letter  of  June  24th  was  read,  and  it  was  resolved,  on  re- 
port of  the  committee  to  whom  it  had  been  referred,  that 
the  President  inform  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  New 
Jersey  that  Congress  entertained  a  ' '  high  sense  of  the 
Spirit  and  Attachment  of  the  Citizens  of  New  Jersey  to 
the  Federal  Union  and  of  the  Sentiments  expressed  by 
his  Excellency,"  and  that  Congress  was  "happy  that 
events  have  rendered  the  Call  of  the  Citizens  into  service 
Unnecessary."  ^  The  address  of  the  college  was  read  and 
the  report  of  Messrs.  Read,  McHenry  and  Higginson, 
the  committee  on  the  address,  was  delivered,  and  accord- 
ingly the  resolution  already  quoted  accepting  the  use  of 
Nassau  Hall  was  passed. '^  The  Honorable  John  Cox's 
letter  containing  the  Trenton  resolutions  was  then  read, 
and  President  Boudinot  was  ordered  to  inform  Mr.  Cox 
of  the  "just  sentiments"  entertained  by  Congress  of  the 
"respectful  Manner  in  which  the  Inhabitants  of  Trenton 
and  its  Vicinity  express  themselves  in  their  Resolves  of 
the  Twenty  fourth  of  June  last  with  respect  to  Congress. 
That  Congress  highly  Applaud  the  proper  Resentment 
the  Citizens  of  Trenton  and  its  Vicinity  have  discovered 
against  disturbers  of  the  public  peace  and  Violators  of 
the  dignity  of  the  Union — ."' 

The  Journal  contains  no  entry  for  July  3d  but  from  a 
letter  of  Robert  Morris  to  James  Milligan,  Comptroller  of 
the  Treasury,  it  appears  that  Congress  sat,  for  the  Finan- 
cier states  that  on  that  day  was  referred  to  him  by  Cong- 
ress a  resolution  of  the  Assembly  of  Virginia,  dated  June 

^Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  20,  Vol.  2,  p.  301.  The  following  personal  paragraph 
was  struck  out  of  the  report :  "  And  are  obliged  by  the  Readiness  expressed  by 
his  Excellency,  the  Governor,  to  be  personally  engaged  in  defending  the  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  United  States  against  every  Insult  and  Indignity."  The  report 
is  dated  "Princeton  2nd  July,  1783,"  and  endorsed  as  delivered,  entered  and 
passed  on  that  date. 

"^ Ibid.,  186,  p.  191. 

^  Ibid.,  20,  Vol.  2,  p.  299. 


THE   PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  69 

4th,  to  investigate  the  contracts  entered  into  by  his  office.* 
At  any  rate  the  session  on  July  3d  was  short  and  unim- 
portant, although  a  letter  which  President  Boudinot 
wrote  to  Washington  that  evening  must  be  quoted : 

Princeton  July  3d,  1783. 
Dear  Sir 

General  S*.  Clair  is  now  here,  and  this  moment 
suggests  an  Idea  which  he  had  desired  me  to  mention 
to  your  Excellency,  as  a  Matter  of  Importance  in  his 
View  of  the  Matter  in  the  intended  Inquiry  at  Philadel- 
phia.—  That  the  Judge  Advocate  should  be  directed 
to  attend  the  Inquiry  —  By  this  Means  the  Business  would 
be  conducted  with  most  Regularity  —  The  Inquiry  might 
be  more  critical,  and  as  several  of  the  Officers  are  in 
Arrest,  perhaps  a  Person  not  officially  engaged,  may 
Consider  himself  in  an  invidious  Situation  —  It  is  late  at 
Night,  and  no  possibility  of  obtaining  the  Sense  of  Con- 
gress, and  therefore  your  Excellency  will  consider  this  as 
the  mere  Suggestion  of  an  individual  &  use  your  own 
Pleasure. 

I  have  the  Honor  to  be  with  the  most  perfect  Esteem 
&  Respect 

Your  Excellency's 

Most  Obed  Hble  Servt 

Elias  Boudinot' 
His  Excellency  Gen^  Washington  — 

In  deference  to  this  suggestion  and  the  similar  one  from 
General  Howe,  Washington  on  July  7th  ordered  Judge 
Advocate  Edwards  to  repair  at  once  to  Philadelphia.' 

On  July  4th  the  meeting  was  also  brief,  but  not  too 
brief  for  the  transaction  of  interesting  local  and  important 
public  business.  The  manuscript  Journal  records  the 
first  as  follows : 

Certain  resolutions  passed  by  the  inhabitants  of  Prince- 
ton and  its  vicinity  being  laid  before  Congress  &  read 

1  Letter  Book  E,  p.  396. 

'Letters  to  Washington,  92,  folio  251. 

*  Letters  of  Washington  B,  Vol.  16,  pt.  2,  No.  207. 


JO  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

Resolved  That  Congress  highly  applaud  the  resolutions 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Princeton  and  its  vicinity  to  support 
order  and  good  government ;  that  Congress  entertain  a 
proper  sense  of  their  affectionate  &  respectful  expressions 
and  are  obliged  by  their  exertions  to  accommodate  the 
representatives  of  the  United  States.^ 

This  resolution  constituted  the  report  delivered  that 
morning  by  the  committee  to  whom  the  Princeton  address 
of  June  26th  had  been  referred.  Mr.  Boudinot  accordingly 
took  time  to  write  that  day  to  Dr.  Smith  and  Colonel 
Morgan,  of  the  town  committee : 

Princeton  July  4,  1783. 
The  Rev*.  M'.  Smith  &  Colo.  George  Morgan. 
Gentlemen, 

Among  the  agreeable  duties  of  my  office,  it  is  not 
the  least  to  make  known  the  approbation  of  Congress 
to  those  worthy  Citizens  of  the  United  States,  whose 
conduct  entitles  them  to  extraordinary  marks  of  it,  on 
particular  occasions.  Be  assured.  Gentlemen,  that  I  take 
a  singular  pleasure  in  communicating  to  you  the  applause 
of  Congress  on  the  patriotic  Resolutions  of  the  Inhabit- 
ants of  Princeton  and  its  vicinity,  in  support  of  order  and 
good  Government,  as  contained  in  the  address  presented 
to  Congress  by  you  on  the         day  ;  and  particularly 

their  high  sense  of  the  polite  attention  of  those  worthy 
Citizens  to  the  accommodation  of  Congress  on  the  sudden 
emergency  of  their  adjournment  to  this  Town. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be  &c. 

E.  B.» 

And  in  obedience  to  an  order  of  Congress  which  does 
not  appear  in  the  Journal,  and  of  which  the  original 
manuscript  has  not  been  found,  he  also  sent  this  letter  to 
Colonel  Morgan,  whose  communication  of  June  25  th 
had  been  referred  to  Messrs.  Read,  McHenry  and  Hig- 

^  Journal,  July  4th,  and  Pap.  Cont  Cong.,  20,  Vol.  2,  p.  295. 
*  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  16,  p.  207.     The  blanks  are  in  the  letter  book  and  should 
be  filled  by  "  26th  "  and  "of  June"  respectively. 


THE   PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  7 1 

ginson,  together  with  the  Trenton  and  the  two  Princeton 
addresses. 

Princeton  4  July  1783. 
Col,  George  Morgan. 
Sir, 

1  am  honored  by  the  commands  of  Congress  to 
signify  to  you  their  acceptance  of  the  use  of  any  of  your 
Buildings  that  may  be  indispensably  necessary  for  public 
offices;  and  to  express  their  high  sense  of  your  kind 
offers  of  service  and  attention  to  their  accommodation  and 
convenience. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  &c 

E.  B.^ 

On  July  4th  also,  Baron  Steuben  waited  on  Congress 
with  a  letter  from  Washington  ^  dated  June  30th,  recom- 
mending that  the  bearer  be  sent  to  receive  possession  of 
the  western  posts  to  be  evacuated  by  the  British.  The 
letter  was  immediately  given  over  to  James  Madison, 
Oliver  Ellsworth  and  Benjamin  Hawkins,  who  reported 
the  same  day,  approving  of  Washington's  plan,  and  handed 
to  the  baron  a  copy  of  a  previous  resolution  by  which 
they  assured  him  Congress  intended  to  give  Washington 
full  power  to  negotiate  with  the  British  Commander  in 
Canada,  and  also  to  send  such  troops  for  the  occupation 
of  evacuated  posts  as  he  might  deem  necessary ;  and  on 
the  strength  of  this  assurance  Steuben  at  once  dispatched 
his  aid.  Captain  North,  to  Robert  Morris  at  Philadelphia 
for  funds  to  cover  the  expenses  of  the  trip  which  he  then 
without  success  undertook.' 

A  report  from  Robert  Morris*  dated  June  22nd,  in 
obedience  to  an  order  of  Congress  of  June  20th,  direct- 
ing him  to  inform  Congress  what  obstacles  were  imped- 

*  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  p.  203. 

2  Ibid.,  152,  Vol.  II,  p.  389  ;  Sparks,  Vol.  8,  p.  459. 

'  Letters  to  Washington,  63,  folio  296,  Steuben  to  Washington  July  5th,  from 
Kingston  on  the  Millstone,  where  he  had  arrived  July  3d. 

*  Letter  Book  E,  p.  383. 


72  CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS   AT    PRINCETON 

ing  the  settlement  of  the  army  accounts,  was  also  read  on 
the  Fourth.  It  appeared  from  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Whole  of  January  25th,  that  the  memorial 
from  the  army  contained  five  points  for  consideration : 
present  pay,  settlement  of  accounts  of  arrears  in  pay  with 
security  for  the  balance,  commutation  of  half  pay,  settle- 
ment of  accounts  of  deficiencies  in  rations  and  compensa- 
tion, and  settlement  of  accounts  of  deficiencies  in  clothing 
and  compensation.  As  regards  the  second  point,  settle- 
ment was  provided  for  by  the  resolution  of  January  25th, 
leaving  it  in  the  hands  of  the  Superintendent  of  Finance. 
No  provision  had  been  made  for  the  fourth  and  fifth 
points.  Morris  said  that  he  had  directed  the  Paymaster- 
General  to  make  the  settlements  referred  to  the  Financier 
as  aforesaid.  The  delay  was  due  to  a  want  of  authority, 
and  also  to  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  an  account  of  the 
advances  made  to  the  officers  of  the  line  by  the  States  and 
the  public  departments.  In  order,  however,  to  obviate 
this  difficulty  and  any  others  similar  to  it  that  might  arise, 
he  suggested  a  resolution  which  was  straightway  passed, 
whereby   the    Paymaster-General  was 

"authorized  and  empowered  to  settle  and  finally  adjust 
all  accounts  whatsoever,  between  the  United  States,  and 
the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  American  army,  so  as  to 
include  all  and  every  demand  which  they  or  either  of 
them  may  have  by  virtue  of  the  several  resolutions  and 
acts  of  Congress  relating  thereto." 

And  he  was  further  directed  to  give  certificates  of 
sums  due  on  these  settlements  in  such  form  and  manner 
as  Morris  might  desire,  with  the  proviso  that  the  certifi- 
cates of  officers  should  be  withheld  until  returns  of  pay- 
ments or  advances  made  to  them  by  the  States  or  public 
departments  should  be  received. 

General  Pierce,  the  Paymaster  General,  lost  no  time 
in  obeying  these  instructions,  and  adopted  the  speediest 


THE   PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  73 

method  of  getting  at  his  data  by  communicating  with 
Washington  at  headquarters : 

Princeton,  July  4,  1783. 
ly  Sir 

Congress  having  this  day  empowered  me  fully  to  settle 
&  finally  adjust  all  accounts  whatsoever  between  the 
United  States  &  the  Officers  &  Soldiers  of  the  Army  you 
will  much  oblige  me  to  have  inserted  in  the  general 
orders  — 

That  the  Paymasters  make  as  soon  as  possible  regimen- 
tal returns  of  the  Cloathing  due  to  the  respective  Regi- 
ments in  the  Army,  signed  by  themselves  &  some  com- 
manding Officer  of  the  Regiment  when  such  certificate 
can  be  obtained.  The  Paymasters  can  have  the  forms  of 
these  accounts  at  my  office. 

That  returns  be  also  made  out  immediately  and  lodged 
in  my  Office  of  the  Officers  who  are,  or  may  be  entitled 
to  Commutation  on  the  discharge  of  the  Army. 

And  also  like  returns  of  the  Non  Commissioned  Offi- 
cers, &  Privates  who  are  or  may  be  entitled  to  the  80 
dols  gratuity. 

In  haste  I  am  D'  Sir 
Yours  sincerely 

Jn"  Pierce^ 

Business  over,  Congress  adjourned,  and  after  luncheon 
the  members  in  a  body  attended  the  more  interesting 
exercises  of  the  day. 

The  Fourth  of  July  was  regularly  celebrated  in  Prince- 
ton by  public  exercises  of  some  kind.  Usually  they  con- 
sisted of  a  speech  delivered  on  one  of  the  tavern  greens, 
after  which  there  was  the  customary  punch,  followed  by 
a  dinner  and  more  punch.  This  year  the  day  was  marked 
by  a  distinct  novelty,  which  had  been  advertised  with  a 
flourish  in  the  New  Jersey  Gazette  : 

Princeton,  June  20,  1783.  The  Anniversary  of  the  In- 
dependence of  America  will  be  celebrated  in  the  College 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  63,  folio  293. 


74  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

by  two  orations  delivered  by  young  gentlemen,  appointed 
for  that  purpose,  by  the  two  literary  societies  established  in 
the  institution ;  in  which  they  propose,  not  only  to  pay 
the  tribute  that  is  due  to  their  country  from  youth  en- 
gaged in  the  pursuits  of  science,  but  to  emulate  each 
other  in  the  opinion  of  a  polite  assembly,  for  the  honour 
of  their  respective  societies} 

The  Journal  contains  no  reference  to  the  anniversary, 
and  contemporary  newspaper  accounts  have  eluded 
search,  but  from  Ashbel  Green's  autobiography,'^  and  his 
letter  to  his  father,  already  mentioned,  we  can  recon- 
struct the  programme  of  the  day's  celebration. 

It  began  at  i  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  with  a  salute  of 
thirteen  guns  fired  on  the  front  campus.  Then  the  ora- 
torical contest  between  the  two  representatives  of  the 
college  literary  societies,  the  Cliosophic  and  the  American 
Whig,  took  place  in  the  college  chapel.  The  orators 
were  Ashbel  Green,  representing  the  American  Whig 
Society,  who  spoke  on  "  The  Superiority  of  a  Republican 
Form  of  Government,"  and  Gilbert  Tennent  Snowden  of 
the  Cliosophic  Society,  the  subject  of  whose  oration  is 
not  known.  Both  of  the  speakers  were  seniors.  After 
the  intellectual  feast  was  over,  it  would  have  been  entirely 
contrary  to  precedent  if  the  company  had  not  adjourned 
to  the  Sign  of  the  College  or  to  Hudibras  Inn  to  do  justice 
to  the  punch  that  Christopher  Beekman  and  Jacob  Hyer 
always  prepared  for  their  guests  on  Independence  Day. 
At  six  o'clock  President  Boudinot  welcomed  to  a  banquet 
at  "  Morven  "  between  seventy  and  eighty  guests,  among 
whom  were  the  members  of  Congress,  the  French  Minister 
M.  de  la  Luzerne,  the  faculty  of  the  College,  the  two 
undergraduate  orators  of  the  day  and  prominent  gentle- 
men of  the  town  and  neighborhood.  After  dinner  Presi- 
dent Boudinot  proposed  the  usual  thirteen  toasts,  each 

^  New  Jersey  Gazette,  June  25th,  1783. 

'^  Life  of  Ashbel  Green,  ed.  by  Jones,  p.  142. 


THE   PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  75 

of  which  was  accompanied  by  a  discharge  of  artillery. 
Later  in  the  evening  there  was  a  display  of  fireworks  on 
the  front  campus,  a  feature  so  successful  that  it  was  re- 
peated the  next  night.  Young  Green  got  back  to  his 
room  in  Nassau  Hall  just  as  the  nine  o'clock  curfew  was 
ringing  in  the  college  belfry.  The  next  four  days  are  a 
blank  in  the  Journals  of  Congress. 

When  on  Wednesday,  July  9th,  Secretary  Thomson 
did  resume  his  record,  we  find  the  sitting  enlivened  by  a 
motion  offered  by  Mr.  Higginson,  and  seconded  by  Mr. 
Holten,  both  of  Massachusetts,  which  led  to  two  days* 
sharp  debate  and  resulted  in  increased  friction  between 
the  Superintendent  of  Finance  and  his  Congressional  su- 
periors. It  was  only  the  day  before  this  (July  8th)  that 
Morris  had  written  to  William  C.  Houston,  Continental 
Receiver  of  Taxes  for  New  Jersey :  "  My  situation  is  in- 
deed deplorable,  for  the  states  seem  all  to  lessen  their 
exertions,  while  I  am  compelled  to  increase  my  engage- 
ments. "  *  The  motion  of  July  9th  ordered  Morris  to  direct 
the  Continental  Receiver  for  Massachusetts  to  disburse 
to  soldiers  and  officers  of  the  Massachusetts  line  discharged 
on  furlough  one  year's  pay  out  of  monies  receivable  from 
that  state  on  the  account  of  the  requisition  of  1782.  Hugh 
Williamson  of  North  Carolina  and  Abraham  Clark  of  New 
Jersey  at  once  moved  that  the  motion  be  committed,  to 
which  Mr.  Higginson  replied  by  demanding  the  yeas  and 
nays,  and  Williamson's  motion  was  lost.  Debate  con- 
tinued until  an  adjournment  was  called  for  and  agreed  to. 
The  next  day  the  original  motion  came  up  again  and  its 
opponents  succeeded  in  having  it  turned  over  to  a  com- 
mittee. President  Boudinot  named  Bland  of  Virginia, 
Fitzsimmons  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  Higginson,  and 
their  report,  considerably  altering  the  original  motion, 
was  ready  the  next  day,  July  i  ith.    Mr.  Holten,  not  liking 

1  Letter  Book  £,  p.  394. 


^6  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT    PRINCETON 

the  amended  form  of  the  resolution,  endeavored  to  have 
it  tabled  in  favor  of  the  original  motion,  and  in  this  he 
was  seconded  by  Mr.  Higginson,  who  was  evidently  a 
minority  in  the  committee,  but  the  States  voted  against 
him  six  to  two.  The  report  then  coming  up,  it  was  un- 
animously resolved  that: 

Whereas  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Massachu- 
setts line  who  have  lately  been  retired  on  furlough,  have 
not  received  the  pay  which  was  formerly  directed ;  And 
whereas  it  is  the  wish  of  Congress  to  do  equal  justice  to 
all  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  continental  army : 

^^j-<7/wdf  unanimously,  That  the  superintendent  of  finance 
be  and  he  is  hereby  directed  to  complete  without  delay, 
the  same  payments  to  the  offiers  and  soldiers  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts line,  which  were  ordered  to  be  paid  to  the 
army  at  large. 

The  report  had  contained  another  clause  which  directed 
Morris  to  order  the  receivers  of  taxes  to  accept  his  notes 
and  those  of  Treasurer  Hillegas  in  payment  of  the  taxes, 
and  to  publish  this  order  immediately  in  the  newspapers ; 
but  it  was  voted  to  refer  this  to  Morris  with  the  injunc- 
tion to  report  what  measures  he  had  taken  to  pay  off  the 
army.  Then  Mr.  Higginson,  with  a  persistence  which 
shows  very  clearly  his  personal  animus,  moved  that 
Morris  report  why  the  troops  lately  furloughed  did  not 
receive  their  pay  previous  to  furlough,  as  Congress  had  in 
tended,  and  also  to  report  by  what  measures  he  expected 
to  redeem  the  notes  he  had  already  issued  or  might  there- 
after issue  to  the  troops,  which  had  been  or  might  there- 
after be  furloughed  under  the  resolution  of  May  26th. 
These  pointed  and  ungenerous  questions  stirred  the  in- 
dignation of  the  Financier,  and  also  gave  him  opportuni- 
ties which  he  was  not  slow  to  improve. 

Replying  to  the  order  to  direct  the  Continental  Re- 
ceivers to  accept  his  and   Hillegas'  notes  in  payment  of 


THE    PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  TJ 

taxes,  and  to  report  what  steps  he  had  taken  toward  pay- 
ing off  the  army,  he  wrote  on  July  I5th^  that  the  re- 
ceivers had  long  ago  received  such  orders ;  that  when  the 
payment  of  the  army  was  contemplated  he  had  told  the 
committee  that  it  could  be  done  only  in  his  notes  and  that 
in  order  to  support  their  credit  such  notes  must  be  re- 
ceivable for  taxes  in  every  state  by  the  Continental 
Receivers  and  exchanged  just  like  all  others  issued  from 
his  office ;  that  this  instruction  was  a  matter  of  common 
knowledge  to  those  who  knew  anything  about  the  busi- 
ness, and  that  in  consequence  the  practice  was  already  a 
general  one ;  that  as  soon  as  the  receivers  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  obtain  such  notes  they  would  naturally  advertise 
for  them  in  the  newspapers ;  that  if  on  the  one  hand  the 
proposed  notice  in  the  papers  were  intended  to  be  confined 
to  army  pay  notes  it  would  injure  the  credit  of  all  others, 
and  if  it  were  intended  for  all  notes,  being  a  procedure 
already  customary,  it  would  be  a  useless  expenditure  of 
money  in  needless  advertising.  As  for  the  steps  he  had 
already  taken  to  pay  off  the  army,  he  merely  remarked 
that  on  an  estimate  from  the  War  Office  he  had  signed 
warrants  for  four  months'  pay,  whereof  one  month  had 
been  paid  in  specie  and  three  months  in  notes  to  non- 
commissioned officers  and  privates,  while  commissioned 
officers  had  received  all  four  months  in  notes.  The  Pay- 
master General  had  not  yet  received  all  the  notes  required, 
but  had  in  hand  as  many  as  he  needed  just  then. 

This  letter,  with  the  resolution  that  gave  it  birth,  was 
referred  on  July  i8th  to  Messrs.  Bland,  Higginson  and 
McHenry,^  who  expressed  the  belief  in  a  subsequent  re- 
port (July  30th)  that  the  expense  of  advertising  was  of 
small  moment  when  compared  with  the  value  of  the  gen- 

'  Letter  Book  E,  p.  414,  Wharton,  Vol.  6,  p.  500.  Morris  had  written  the 
day  before  to  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  about  the  proposed  action  of  the 
Massachusetts  legislature. 

*  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  26,  p.  448. 


78  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

eral  information  designed  by  the  resolution  of  the  ii th ; 
and  they  therefore  oflFered  a  resolution  that  Morris  pub- 
lish such  part  of  his  instructions  to  the  receivers  as  related 
to  their  being  authorized  and  instructed  to  accept  his 
notes  in  payment  of  taxes,  and  also  to  take  up  all  such 
notes  wherever  they  had  public  money  in  their  hands. ^ 

Mr.  Fitzsimmons  had  gone  to  Philadelphia  on  the  14th 
to  see  Morris  about  the  matter,  and  had  ' '  had  a  pretty 
long  conference  "^  with  him,  the  result  of  which  was  the 
above  resolution.  Congress  spent  most  of  the  30th  and 
all  of  the  31st  debating  and  amending  it,  and  then  passed 
it  with  a  simple  inversion  of  its  phraseology. 

On  July  1 8th  Morris  addressed  to  President  Boudinot 
his  reply  to  the  other  motion  of  the  nth.  He  appealed 
to  the  candor  of  Congress  how  far,  after  considering  the 
facts,  censure  of  his  conduct  was  warranted,  and  the  rest 
of  his  letter  is  a  spirited  reminder  to  Congress  of  the 
solemn  promises  of  support  which  alone  had  induced  him 
to  reconsider  his  decision  when  in  the  preceding  April  he 
was  about  to  resign.  He  gives  a  synopsis  of  his  official 
correspondence  since  that  time,  shows  that  the  paper  for 
the  notes  was  delayed  by  the  makers,  tells  how  he  signed 
six  thousand  notes  in  six  days,  and  reminds  Congress 
that  he  himself  had  asserted  the  impossibility  of  settling 
♦^he  army's  accounts  unless  other  expenditures  were  cut 
down  and  the  States  forwarded  their  tax  quotas.  As  for 
the  future,  he  is  compelled  to  rely  on  the  promises  of 
Congress  to  enforce  the  taxes.  ^ 

This  letter  was  sent  to  the  same  committee,  Messrs. 
Bland,  McHenry  and  Higginson,  who  took  over  a  month 
for  its  consideration,  and  then  produced  a  sharp  response 
with  a  resolution  that  the  Financier  hereafter  submit  to 

'Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,   19,  Vol.  4,  p.  409.     Ste  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  August 
20tb,  etc.,  for  notice  as  published. 
*  Diary,  July   14th. 
'Letter  Book  E,  p.  422  ;  Sparks  Dipl.  Corr.,  Vol.  12,  p.  380. 


THE   PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  79 

Congress  all  his  plans  of  payment  before  carrying  them 
out,  so  that  they  might  undergo  revision  —  or  at  least 
supervision  —  before  being  put  into  execution.  "Your 
Committee  are  fully  satisfied  that  no  time  was  lost  in 
completing  the  Signing  the  Notes  for  the  Payment  of  the 
troops  after  the  measure  was  Concluded  upon  —  but  they 
are  of  opinion  that  on  so  important  and  Perilous  a  Step 
as  the  furloughing  the  Troops  Congress  sh**.  have  been 
fully  apprized  (after  they  had  pledged  their  faith  that  no 
part  of  the  army  sh**.  be  disbanded  without  a  Settlement 
of  their  accounts  and  a  certain  part  of  their  pay  being 
advanced  to  them)  —  of  the  difficulty  or  impracticability 
of  doing  the  one  or  advancing  the  other  in  due  time  — 
that  so  the  furloughing  might  have  been  suspended  for  a 
short  time  whereby  in  all  probability  the  Subsequent 
Tumult  and  discontents  in  the  Army  might  have  been 
avoided  —  but  this  was  not  done."^ 

The  report  of  which  the  above  is  merely  one  paragraph 
was  read,  but  no  action  was  taken  on  it.  Perhaps  the 
better  judgment  in  Congress  concluded  that  as  the  result 
of  a  month's  deliberation  it  was  disappointing. 

The  dominant  thoughts  in  Robert  Morris'  mind  at  this 
trying  period  were  the  want  of  money  and  his  lack  of 
public  support.  Under  July  30th  in  his  diary  is  this 
entry  :  "  Being  in  great  distress  for  want  of  money  Mr. 
Morris  ^  and  myself  spent  much  time  in  considering  ways 
and  means,  but  as  yet  unsuccessfully."  On  August  20th 
he  writes  to  George  Olney,  Receiver  of  Taxes  for  Rhode 
Island,  that  he  fears  "the  states  will  turn  a  deaf  ear  to 
all  applications.  Where  all  this  is  to  end  God  knows." 
One  of  the  first  effects  would  be,  he  thought,  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Confederation,  and  what  then  —  whether  a 
new  and  better  bond,  or  total  anarchy,  ' '  time  alone  could 

'Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  19,  Vol.  4,  p.  415. 
*  Gouverneur  Morris. 


8o  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT    PRINCETON 

tell."'  To  Washington,  on  August  12th,  he  says:  "I 
am  always  happy  to  hear  from  you  altho*  I  confess  that 
every  new  Demand  for  Money  makes  me  shudder."^ 

Added  to  this  financial  distress  was  his  knowledge  that 
he  was  disliked  and  distrusted  by  a  great  part  of  the  pub- 
lic and  hated  by  many  members  of  Congress.  In  his  let- 
ter of  August  19th  to  Governor  Benjamin  Harrison  of 
Virginia,  speaking  of  his  own  successor,  he  says :  "But 
all  other  things  out  of  the  question,  there  is  such  a  Dis- 
position among  Men  to  traduce  and  vilify  that  no  prudent 
Man  will  risk  a  fair  Reputation  by  holding  an  Office  so 
important  as  mine."'  And  on  August  12th  he  declares 
to  the  Paymaster  General  that  it  is  becoming  impossible 
to  serve  a  people  who  convert  everything  into  ground 
for  calumny,  and  he  feels  the  necessity  of  quitting  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment  an  office  of  incessant  labor  and 
anxiety  whose  only  reward  is  obloquy.* 

The  arrival  of  Arthur  Lee  in  July  to  take  his  seat  in 
Congress  did  not  mean  the  arrival  of  a  friend.  In  less 
than  a  month  Lee  had  made  five  motions,  all  of  which 
showed  a  spiteful  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  Finance 
Department,  and  must  have  added  exceedingly  to  the 
labors  of  its  head. 

Some  conception  of  the  opposition  that  Morris  had  to 
contend  with  in  Congress  may  be  gathered  from  a  letter 
written  by  a  member  of  that  body  early  in  August.  It 
reached  the  hands  of  Sir  Guy  Carleton  and  was  sent  by 
him  to  Lord  North  to  give  the  latter  an  idea  of  the  wrang- 
ling that  pervaded  the  councils  of  the  young  republic. 
It  is  full  of  peevish  complaint  of  current  circumstances, 
filled  with  bitter  distrust  of  the  intentions  of  France  and 
expresses  a  longing  for  reunion  with  Great  Britain.     The 

1  Letter  Book  F,  p.  6 1. 
' /did.,  p.  4S. 
'Hid.,  p.  55. 
*/iii/.,  p.  48. 


THE   PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  8 1 

attitude  of  the  author  of  the  letter  toward  Robert  Morris 
will  be  understood  from  this  paragraph : 

Congress  yet  remains  here,  and  that  in  opposition  to 
the  utmost  exertions  of  all  the  great  men  &  their  tools. 
Their  being  here  I  consider  a  very  happy  affair  for 
America.  The  Members  act  with  much  more  indepen- 
dence than  they  ever  did  or  will  do  in  Philadelphia.  I 
have  carried  some  motions  here,  which  but  one  man 
would  support  me  in  when  in  Philadelphia.  Things  seem 
to  be  working  right.  The  great  man  and  his  Agents  are 
very  uneasy,  they  see  their  influence  daily  declining,  and 
I  have  great  hope  that  we  shall  yet  catch  him  on  the  hop, 
and  perhaps  get  rid  of  him.  I  wish  exceedingly  to  see 
our  Councils  freed  from  his  influence,  to  see  Congress 
acting  an  independent  &  an  honorable  part.  This  cannot 
be  while  he  remains  in  office.^ 

The  sanguine  temperament  to  which  Mr.  Morris'  biog- 
raphers have  alluded,  and  a  certain  strain  of  dry  humor 
alone  saved  him  from  becoming  a  nervous  wreck.  On 
the  Fourth,  finding  that  no  preparations  have  been  made 
for  an  official  celebration  at  Philadelphia,  he  organizes  a 
small  one  of  his  own,  entertaining  at  dinner  some  forty 
military  and  civil  dignitaries,  and  spending  "the  after- 
noon and  evening  in  great  Festivity  and  Mirth.  "^  And 
when  one  Robert  Moorhead  calls  on  him  in  the  very 
thick  of  his  financial  worry  to  show  him  his  discoveries 
of  "Perpetual  Motion,  etc.,"  Morris  drily  notes  in  his 
diary  that  his  interrupter  "went  away  convinced  that  his 
discoveries  are  very  defective"  '.  In  his  letter  of  August 
19th,  to  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  acknowledging 
the  receipt  of  an  act  of  the  Assembly  of  that  State  disap- 
proving of  the  method  of  making  the  three  months'  pay 

1  Bancroft  MSS.  England  &  America,  Vol.  August,  1782.  Dated  August  Sth 
1783.  Bancroft's  endorsement  on  this  letter  shows  that  he  suspected  Mr.  Hig- 
ginson  of  its  authorship. 

*  Diary,  p.  16. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  29. 


82  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

to  the  army,  he  could  not  resist  a  pointed  reference  to 
the  attitude  of  that  State  toward  him.  He  wished  the 
disapproval  had  come  soon  enough  to  have  prevented  the 
measure  entirely,  for  it  was  carried  out  against  his  ad- 
vice ;  had  the  States  enabled  him  to  do  better  for  the 
army  such  a  measure  would  never  have  been  proposed ; 
he  hoped  in  future  times  that  public  servants  would  not 
be  forced  into  positions  injurious  to  so  deserving  a  body 
of  men  as  the  American  soldiery,  and  if  such  measures 
were  adopted  he  hoped  they  would  receive  adequate  cen- 
sure or  punishment.  Then  comes  the  sly  thrust  —  in  any 
case,  he  hoped  that  whether  censure  or  punishment 
ensued,  those  wlio  were  guiltless  would  throw  the  first 
stone} 

During  the  passage  at  arms  between  Congress  and  the 
Financier,  Mr.  Williamson  had  endeavored  to  improve 
the  attendance  by  moving,  on  the  i6th,  that  whenever 
the  lack  of  a  quorum  of  seven  States  made  an  adjourn- 
ment necessary  the  names  of  the  States  represented  and 
of  the  individuals  present  from  States  not  represented  be 
entered  on  the  Journal.  This  resolution  went  into  op- 
eration the  next  day  and  the  manuscript  Journal  bears 
the  record  that  "  Only  five  states  attended,  namely 
Massachusetts,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  North  Carolina 
&  South  Carolina,"  but  in  the  printed  Journal  the  entire 
paragraph  is  omitted  and  there  is  no  entry  for  the  17th, 
which  is  also  the  case  for  the  21st.  Quorums  were  un- 
obtainable on  the  22d,  24th  and  25th  and  the  Journal 
duly  records  the  attending  States  and  individuals. 

A  pleasant  diversion  was  created  on  the  i6th  by  the 
reading  of  the  following  address  to  Congress  from  the 
magistrates,  militia  officers  and  citizens  of  Newark, 
N.  J.,  which  was  brought  to  Princeton  by  Surgeon  Gen- 
eral William   Burnet,  Mr.  William   Peartree  Smith,  and 

^  Letter  book  F,  p.  60. 


THE   PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  83 

Judge  Elisha  Boudinot,  a  committee  appointed  by  the 
citizens  of  Newark  for  that  purpose. 

To  His  Excellency  the  President  and  the  Hon- 
orable Delegates  from  the  United  States  in 
Congress  Assembled  : 

Indignity  offered  to  the  Representative  Body  of  these 
United  States  must  be  heard  by  every  true  son  of  the 
Confederated  Republic  with  equal  Surprize  and  Resent- 
ment. To  express  our  deepfelt  Abhorrence  of  the  late 
Insult  committed  at  Philadelphia,  by  a  Set  of  mutinous 
Soldiers,  on  your  august  assembly  —  We  the  Magistrates, 
Militia  Officers  and  Citizens  of  the  town  of  New  Ark, 
have  this  day  purposely  convened.  At  the  same  time 
we  take  Occasion  of  expressing  the  Pleasure  we  feel  on 
your  Removal  into  this  State,  a  State,  which  entertains 
a  just  Sense  of  the  Dignity  of  that  Foederal  Council  by 
the  Wisdom  and  Firmness  of  whose  Measures,  the  Sov- 
ereignty and  Independance  of  this  Country,  hath  under 
God  been  so  gloriously  established. 

Permit  us.  Most  Honorable  to  assure  You,  that  with 
the  rest  of  our  fellow  Citizens  at  the  risque  of  every 
thing  we  hold  dear.  We  shall  be  ever  ready  to  protect 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  against  every  Insult 
and  Indignity  whether  foreign  or  domestic ;  But  such  is 
the  Affection,  such  the  Veneration,  of  the  People  of  this 
State,  to  the  Foederal  Government,  that  we  are  confident 
if  its  Seat  be  perpetuated  in  New  Jersey,  your  Honor 
and  safety  will  ever  remain  inviolate  and  undisturbed.  — 

To  induce  to  a  permanent  Establishment  in  the  State, 
Nothing  in  the  power  of  this  Township  shall  be  want- 
ing. —  And  should  your  Honorable  Body  think  Proper 
to  fix  your  Residence  in  this  Town,  which  with  its 
Environs  for  Elegance  of  Situation  and  Convenience,  is 
equal  if  not  superior  to  any  part  of  the  State,  every  pos- 
sible convenient  Accommodation  shall  be  provided  to 
render  your  Situation  Satisfactory  and  Agreeable. 
By  order  of  the  Meeting 

W^  Burnet,   Chairman} 
iPap.  Cont.  Cong.,  43,  p.  333. 


84  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

This  address  was  referred  to  Messrs.  Read,  McHenry 
and  Higginson,  whose  report  was  read  on  July  i8th, 
applauding  the  people  of  Newark  for  their  patriotism 
and  their  zeal  for  the  honor  of  the  federal  government, 
and  directing  the  president  to  thank  them  for  their  will- 
ingness to  render  the  stay  of  Congress  in  New  Jersey  as 
agreeable  as  possible.  President  Boudinot  on  the  24th 
wrote  to  Dr.  Burnet  in  obedience  to  this  command.^ 

A  week  later  (July  23d)  Congress  received  still  another 
loyal  New  Jersey  address,  this  time  from  the  militia  of  the 
three  counties  of  Hunterdon,   Middlesex  and  Somerset. 

To  THE  United  States  in  Congress  assembled: 

Permit  the  Officers  of  the  three  Battalions  of  Militia 
of  Hunterdon,  Middlesex  &  Somerset,  most  contiguous 
to  the  place  of  your  present  Sitting,  to  make  a  Tender 
to  you  of  their  profoundest  Duty  &  Respect;  And  we 
may  with  Truth  and  Justice  add  that  of  the  Men  whom 
we  have  the  honour  to  command,  with  whose  Sentiments 
&  Instructions  we  are  thoroughly  aquainted. 

At  a  General  Meeting  we  have  lately  entered  into  the 
following  unanimous  Resolutions, 

That  the  foederal  Union  ought  to  be  held  Sacred  by 
every  Citizen  of  America,  &  therefore  that  the  highest 
Honour  is  due  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  not 
only  on  account  of  their  exalted  Station,  but  for  their 
virtuous  and  vigorous  exertions  in  the  public  Cause. 

That  Congress  ought  to  be  protected  in  their  Honour 
&  Safety,  individually  &  collectively,  &  supported  in 
their  Government  by  the  executive  of  every  State,  and 
by  the  exertions  of  every  Friend  to  the  common  Cause. 

That  we  do  tender  our  Services  to  Congress  to  protect 
them  from  all  Insolence  and  Violence,  and  to  march 
under  proper  command  for  this  purpose  Whenever  & 
Wherever  it  may  be  necessary.  — And 

That  while  we  thus  tender  our  Duty  to  Congress,  we 
cannot  help  paying  the  Tribute  that  is  due  to  an  excellent 

*Pap,  Cont.  Cong.,  20,  Vol.  2,  p.  293,  and  ibid.,  16,  p.  226.  Boudinot, 
Vol.  I,  p.  344. 


THE    PRINCETON    SESSION   BEGINS  85 

Governor,  &  the  vigorous  Executive  of  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,    who,    we   are   assured,   will   be  as   forward  to 
encourage  &  direct  our  Zeal  as  we  are  to  express  it. 
Signed  in  behalf  of  the  Battalions  by 
Joseph  Phillips 
Henry  Van  Dike     ►  Colonels.  * 
William  Scudder 

In  accordance  with  the  recommendation  of  Messrs. 
Izard,  Higginson  and  Williamson,  to  whose  considera- 
tion President  Boudinot  entrusted  this  document,  and 
who  had  reported^  July  26th,  he  acknowledged  on  the 
30th  to  Colonel  Phillips  the  receipt  of  the  address  and 
begged  him  to  inform  his  fellow  officers  of  the  satisfac- 
tion which  it  gave  and  of  the  high  approval  with  which 
its  patriotic  sentiments  were  viewed  by  Congress.  And 
he  added  :  "it  gives  me  personally  great  pleasure  to  bear 
this  testimony  to  the  affectionate  attachment  of  my  Fel- 
low Citizens  of  New-Jersey  to  the  Foederal  Government, 
and  doubt  not  but  they  will  ever  support  the  very  respect- 
able character  they  have  hitherto  maintained  throughout 
the  Union.  "3 

Meanwhile,  at  Philadelphia  public  opinion  in  regard  to 
the  departure  of  Congress  was  undergoing  a  change.  At 
first  the  citizens  had  affected  to  treat  the  whole  affair  as 
"of  a  trifling  nature."*  But  the  course  of  a  few  weeks 
had  altered  this  attitude.  Edmund  Pendleton  remarked 
that  the  presence  of  military  visitants,  and  the  reflection 
that  their  own  conduct  had  made  the  visit  necessary,  could 
not  be  pleasing  to  Philadelphians ;  it  was  obviously  *  *  a 
stigma  on  their  public  character,  as  wanting  either  incli- 
nation or  courage  to  support  the  members  of  the  great 

>Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  46,  p.  51. 

*Ibid.,  20,  Vol.  I,  p.  291. 

'Ibid.,  16,  p.  231.      Boudinot,  Vol.  i,  p.  344. 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  92,  fo.  262.    Boudinot  to  Washington,  July  8th,  1783. 


86  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

National  Council,  holding  Session  in  their  Metropolis."^ 
Ezra  L'Hommedieu  intimated  to  Governor  Clinton  that 
the  change  of  opinion  was  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
absence  of  Congress  meant  the  loss  to  the  State  of  a  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  per  annum.* 

At  any  rate,  early  in  July  an  address  of  loyalty  was 
drawn  up,  and  after  Tench  Francis  had  shown  Robert 
and  Gouverneur  Morris  a  draft  of  it  and  had  received 
their  approval,'  signatures  were  gathered.  Thomas  Paine 
declared  to  Washington  that  the  address  was  signed  by 
the  principal  merchants  and  inhabitants  of  the  city ;  but 
Captain  P.  S.  DuPonceau,  Steuben's  former  aide,  gave 
Robert  Livingston  a  different  impression.  "  A  petition," 
said  he,  *'  has  been  lately  set  on  foot  for  this  purpose,  it  is 
pretended  to  be  from  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia,  but  the 
truth  is  that  Mr.  Peale  &  other  persons  of  his  stamp,  go 
about  from  house  to  house  to  procure  signatures  —  It  is 
generally  thought  that  Congress  will  come  back  on  the 
strength  of  that  —  The  Wags  say  that  they  are  petition- 
ing themselves,  indeed  the  matter  is  carried  on  rather  in 
a  farcical  manner.  Those  who  wish  well  to  Congress 
hope  that  they  will  support  the  measure  they  have  taken, 
&  that  if  they  are  ill  accommodated  at  Princeton  they 
will  remove  to  Trenton  or  to  some  more  convenient  place, 
but  that  they  will  by  no  means  return  to  this  city."* 

Of  the  address  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  had  this  modest 
notice  to  publish  in  its  issue  of  July  i6th: 

There  is  scarcely  an  instance,  in  which  the  citizens  of 
Philadelphia  have  shown  more  good  sense,  united  with 
good  disposition  and  manly  patriotism  than  in  their  Address 
to  Congress,  which  is  now  signing,  and  will  be  presented 
in  a  few  days.     It  happily  falls  in  with  the  sense  of  all 

^  Pendleton  to  Madison,  July  2ist. 
'Clinton  MSS.  5157,  Letter  of  Aug.  15th. 
'  Morris'  Diary,  July  9th. 
*  Livingston  Papers,  1777-99,  P-  437- 


THE    PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  8/ 

parties,  and  is  not  only  a  measure  of  perfect  cordiality, 
but  consistent  with  the  nicest  and  most  delicate  sense  of 
honour. 

The  text  taken  from  the  original,  is  as  follows : 

The  Address  of  the  Citizens  of  Philadelphia  and 
OF  the  Liberties  thereof  —  To  his  Excel- 
lency the  President  and  Congress 
of  the  United  States 

Most  Hon^^'  Sirs 

From  the  Commencement  of  the  late  ever  memorable 
contest  for  liberty  and  the  honor  and  happiness  of  the 
human  race,  the  Citizens  of  Philadelphia,  and  of  the 
Liberties  thereof,  have  in  an  especial  manner  distin- 
guished themselves  by  every  exertion  which  principle 
could  inspire  or  fortitude  support. 

Neither  have  they  been  free  with  their  lives  only  as 
Militia  but  with  their  fortunes  as  Citizens.  As  instances 
of  these  we  need  only  appeal  to  facts. 

The  Progress  of  the  War  has  fully  confirmed  the  one 
and  the  monthly  return  of  taxes  from  this  State  of  which 
the  City  &  Liberties  form  so  great  a  part  has  not  been 
exceeded  by  any  and  we  wish  they  had  been  propor- 
tionally equaled  by  every  State  in  the  Union.  To  which 
we  may  add  the  establishment  of  the  bank  which  has 
extended  its  usefulness  to  the  public  service,  and  acquired 
a  permanency  as  effectual  and  in  some  instances  superior 
to  those  of  other  nations. 

The  government  of  this  State  has,  likewise,  ever  dis- 
tinguished itself  by  adopting  and  passing  and  the  Citizens 
by  supporting  all  such  laws  recommended  by  Congress 
as  were  necessary  to  be  passed  throughout  the  Continent 
for  bringing  the  War  to  a  happy  issue  and  for  raising 
such  monies  as  the  expence  of  it  required. 

The  Act  for  laying  a  duty  of  five  Per  Cent  upon  imported 
Articles  tho'  it  would  have  found  its  richest  mine  in  the 
Commerce  and  consumption  of  this  City  &  State,  yet 
struck  with  the  propriety  and  equity  of  raising  money 
from  the  Channel  in  which  it  most  circulates  and  im- 
pressed with  the  Necessity  as  well  as  the  bounden  duty 


88  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT    PRINCETON 

of  maintaining  the  justice  and  honor  of  America  we 
chearfully  gave  it  our  best  support.  And  as  we  have 
ever  been  so  we  mean  ever  to  continue  to  be  among 
the  foremost  to  establish  the  National  Character  of 
America  as  the  firm  basis  of  inviolable  faith  and  sacred 
honor. 

In  thus  expressing  our  minds  to  Congress  we  are  like- 
wise compelled  to  say,  That  from  your  residence  among 
us  We  have  been  Witnesses  to  the  uncommon  difficulties 
you  have  had  to  struggle  with.  We  have  beheld  them 
with  concern  and  often  times  with  heartfelt  anxiety  We 
have  participated  in  Your  Cares  and  partook  of  your 
burthens 

While  our  chiefest  consolation  under  them  was  that 
they  did  not  arise  from  any  unwillingness  or  backward- 
ness in  the  Government  of  this  State  to  adopt  the  proper 
measures  for  removing  them  or  from  any  narrow  views 
in  the  Citizens  to  counteract  them  — 

We  do  not  amuse  the  World  with  calling  on  Congress  to 
do  Justice  to  the  army  and  to  the  creditors  of  America 
and  yet  withhold  the  means  by  which  that  Justice  is  to 
be  fulfilled.  On  the  contrary  we  freely  offer  ourselves 
to  bear  our  share  in  any  National  measure  to  effect  those 
purposes  and  to  establish  the  character  of  America  equal 
to  her  Rank. 

We  are  now  most  solemnly  to  assure  your  Excellency 
and  Congress  that  tho'  we  do  not  enter  into  the  reasons 
or  causes  which  might  suggest  to  your  Honorable  Body 
the  propriety  of  adjourning  at  the  particular  time  you 
did  adjourn  from  your  long  accustomed  Residence  in 
this  City,  Yet  as  a  Testimony  of  the  Affections  of  the 
Citizens  to  that  Union  which  has  so  happily  succeeded 
in  accomplishing  the  freedom  and  independence  of  Amer- 
ica, We  beg  leave  to  assure  Congress  that  if  either  now 
or  at  any  future  time  until  the  Residence  of  Congress 
shall  be  permanently  established  it  should  appear  to  your 
Honble  Body  that  the  situation  of  Philadelphia  is  con- 
venient for  transacting  therein  the  concerns  of  the  Nation 
that  Congress  may  Repose  the  utmost  confidence  in  its 
inhabitants,  not  only  to  prevent  any  Circumstance  which 
may  have  a  tendency  to  disturb  their  necessary  delibera- 


THE   PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  89 

tions  but  to  aid  in  all  measures  to  support  the  national 
honor  and  dignity.' 

This  formidable  document  with  its  800  signatures  Pre- 
sident Boudinot  delivered  to  the  tender  mercies  of  a  com- 
mittee consisting  of  Messrs.  Williamson,  Duane,  Higgin- 
son,  Lee  and  Izard,  who  brought  in  a  diplomatic  report  ^ 
on  July  28th  in  these  terms : 

That  the  President  inform  the  Citizens  of  Philadelphia 
and  its  Liberties  in  answer  to  their  respectful  &  affection- 
ate address  that  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled 
have  great  satisfaction  in  reviewing  the  spirited  and 
patriotic  Exertions  which  have  been  made  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  Citizens  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  Course  of  the 
late  glorious  War.  And  that  they  are  highly  pleased 
with  the  Resolutions  expressed  by  the  Citizens  of  Phila- 
delphia to  aid  in  all  Measures  which  may  have  a  Tend- 
ency to  support  the  national  Honor  and  Dignity. 

The  reply  which  Boudinot  wrote  on  July  30th  ^  in  pur- 
suance of  these  directions  was  published  in  the  news- 
papers by  Thomas  Willing,  on  advice  of  Robert  Morris,  * 
with  the  text  of  the  address  of  the  citizens  in  order  best 
to  "fulfil  the  intentions  of  Congress,  by  furnishing  the 
most  speedy  communication  of  their  favorable  sentiments 
of  the  government  and  citizens  of  Pennsylvania."  ^ 

Concerning  the  address,  Edmund  Pendleton  observed 
to  Madison: 

I  expect  that  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia  whilst  they 
are  retailing  their  merit  to  induce  the  return  of  Congress 
to  their  City,  will  feel  some  remorse  for  their  assumed 
indifference  about  their  making  that  the  seat  of  the  per- 
manent Sessions  of  that  body  &  will  enter  the  list  of  bid- 
ders for  the  Honour  &  profit.     They  may  Palliate,  but 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  43,  p.  333.     For  the  signatures  see  Appendix  III. 

*  /did.,  20,  Vol.  2,  159. 

3  /did.,  16,  p.  230;  Boudinot,  Vol.  l,  p.  345. 

*  Morris'  Diary,  August  4th. 

^  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  August  6th. 


90  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

they  cant  excuse  their  neglect  to  suppress  a  handful  of 
rioters  assembled  to  violate  the  Laws  &  insult  either  their 
own  Government  or  that  of  the  State,  but  we  have  reason 
to  practice  the  divine  disposition  of  forgiving  upon  re- 
pentance. ^ 

And  later  he  had  this  further  comment  to  make : 

The  Address  of  the  Citizens  of  Philad'a  would  have 
been  clearer  if  fewer  Egotisms  had  appear'd  in  it.  Some 
were  excusable  as  an  evidence  of  their  attachment  to  the 
Federal  Government,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  a 
Majority  were  ready  to  have  protected  Congress  from  & 
resented  the  insult,  and  that  I  formerly  hinted  the  true 
source  of  the  neglect.  Be  that  as  it  may,  that  body  are 
polite  &  civil  in  their  answer,  and  properly  avoided  any 
declaration  on  the  subject  of  returning.^ 

On  the  28th  of  July,  the  day  that  the  report  on  this 
address  was  adopted,  another  committee  consisting  of 
Messrs.  Higginson,  Ellery  and  Williamson  appointed 
to  consider  an  important  letter  from  President  Dickinson, 
dated  the  14th,  also  brought  in  a  report.  Mr.  Higginson 
and  Mr.  Williamson,  it  will  be  noticed,  had  served  on  both 
committees.  Mr.  Dickinson  had  bravely  endeavored  to 
diminish  as  much  as  possible  the  effects  of  the  mutiny. 
No  one  was  more  mortified  than  he  at  the  step  Congress 
had  taken.  He  had  made  as  pleasant  a  face  as  he  could 
and  had  kept  Mr.  Boudinot  posted  as  to  the  progress  of 
affairs  in  Philadelphia.  On  July  3d  he  had  written  assur- 
ing him  of  the  Council's  support  in  carrring  out  the  reso- 
lution of  July  ist,  and  at  the  same  time  had  ventured  to 
hint  that  so  large  a  body  of  troops  as  General  Howe  was 
bringing  was  perhaps  unnecessary  in  view  of  the  tran- 
quiHty  now  reigning  in  the  city.'  On  July  14th  he  had 
written  suggesting  the  pardon  of  Congress  for  the  troops 

*  Pendleton  to  Madison,  July  28th. 

*  Pendleton  to  Madison,  August  i8th. 
'  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  38,  p.  147. 


THE   PRINCETON   SESSION   BEGINS  9I 

concerned  in  the  mutiny.  '*  We  do  not  doubt,"  said  he, 
* '  but  on  this  occasion,  former  instances  in  several  Lines 
of  the  army,  the  proceedings  thereupon,  the  particularity 
of  circumstances  attending  the  late  disturbances,  the  suc- 
cess of  the  War,  and  the  happy  conclusion  of  it,  will  have 
their  due  weight  in  forming  the  resolution  that  will  be 
adopted. "  *  His  also  had  been  the  initiative  in  arranging  the 
dinner  given  at  the  State  House  on  the  i8th  to  the  officers 
of  the  army  then  in  and  near  Philadelphia.  Among  the 
guests  were  Robert  Morris,  Generals  Gates,  DuPortail, 
Howe  and  Patterson,  the  last  pair  being  in  the  city  in 
connection  with  the  mutiny.  Mr.  Dickinson  presided ; 
there  were  thirteen  toasts  with  firing  of  cannon  after 
each,  while  different  marches  were  played  by  military 
bands ;  and  it  was  declared  by  the  newspapers  that  the 
company  present  behaved  like  members  ' '  of  one  great 
and  happy  family."  ^ 

On  the  28th  then  the  committee  on  President  Dickin- 
son's letter  recommending  mercy  brought  in  a  report 
which  led  to  a  resolution  that  although  Congress  was  dis- 
posed to  extend  to  the  mutinous  troops  every  possible 
mark  of  clemency  which  was  consistent  with  the  honor 
of  the  government  and  the  safety  of  the  public,  yet  no 
final  measures  could  be  adopted  on  the  subject  until  Gen- 
eral Howe's  court  martial  should  be  closed.  There  was, 
however,  no  objection  to  granting  furloughs  to  soldiers 
implicated  in  the  mutiny  if  they  were  not  ring-leaders,  or 
if  their  testimony  was  not  important  for  the  conviction  of 
the  ring-leaders.  But  no  soldier  concerned  in  the  dis- 
turbance would  be  allowed  to  carry  home  his  arms  on  his 
discharge  or  furlough,  the  resolution  of  May  26th  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding.  General  Howe  was  ordered, 
however,  to  send  back  to  the  main  army  any  of  his  troops 
no  longer  needed. 

'Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  38,  p.  151. 

'  See  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  July  23d,  and  the  Freeman' s  Journal,  July  30th. 


92  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

On  July  28th  another  important  report  was  made  in 
Nassau  Hall,  although  no  trace  of  it  is  to  be  found  on  the 
pages  of  the  Journal.  This  was  the  report  of  Madison, 
Hawkins  and  Duane  on  a  communication  from  Morris,  of 
June  29th,  protesting  against  the  action  of  the  Maryland 
Legislature  in  directing  the  Intendent  of  Revenue,  with- 
out sanction  of  Congress,  to  advance  five  months  pay  to 
the  Line  of  that  State  in  the  army  of  the  United  States.  To 
meet  the  expense  involved  the  Legislature  had  revoked  an 
act  appropriating  a  particular  tax  toward  discharging  the 
requisition  of  Congress  and  had  ordered  the  same  to  be 
applied  to  the  new  purpose.  Robert  Morris  had  remon- 
strated to  the  Executive  of  Maryland,  and  had  forwarded 
a  copy  of  the  act  of  Congress  of  October  ist,  1782,  express- 
ing the  disapproval  of  Congress  when  a  similar  proceed- 
ing had  taken  place  in  New  Jersey,  and  he  pointed  out  as 
subverting  to  public  credit  the  alarming  tendency  of  the 
Maryland  action  in  view  of  the  recent  Congressional 
orders  to  advance  pay  to  the  army  at  large.  Before  this  he 
had  called  the  attention  of  Daniel  Carroll,  who  was  repre- 
senting Maryland  in  Congress,  to  the  situation  reduced  to 
its  simplest  terms:  her  delegates  were  opposing  the  dis- 
banding of  the  army  while  her  Legislature  was  depriving 
Congress  of  the  means  appropriated  to  that  army's  sup- 
port.^ To  Benjamin  Harwood,  Receiver  of  Taxes  for 
Maryland,  he  wrote  no  less  emphatically : 

When  relying  on  the  faith  of  the  Legislature  I  make 
Engagements  in  Consequence  of  Their  Laws  it  is  not  only 
unjust  to  break  that  faith  but  it  is  also  the  Source  and 
Cause  of  further  Injustice.  All  those  Ties  by  which 
Public  Credit  is  held  together  are  at  once  cut  in  twain 
and  every  private  Engagement  formed  in  Consequence 
thereof  becomes  the  Sport  of  Accident.  Perhaps  a  calm 
rational  firm  Representation  seasonably  presented  would 
have  checked  the  Progress  of  the  Bill  —  Of  this  however 

'  Letter  Book  E,  p,  388. 


THE   PRINCETON    SESSION   BEGINS  93 

you  (being  on  the  Spot)  are  the  best  Judge,  and  I  rely 
that  you  have  done  what  was  proper.^ 

But  Morris  did  not  receive  much  attention  from  Con- 
gress. The  committee  to  which  his  protest  had  been 
referred  agreed  with  him  entirely  and  proposed  that  the 
Maryland  Legislature  be  earnestly  requested  to  consider 
the  pernicious  tendency  of  the  measure  complained  of, 
and  that  it  be  required  to  pay  into  the  public  treasury 
the  quota  so  appropriated  in  order  that  Congress  might 
be  able  to  do  equal  justice  to  the  army  and  to  other  public 
creditors.*  And  then  in  spite  of  its  urgency  the  report  was 
allowed  to  lie  on  the  table  two  weeks,  only  to  have  its 
consideration  postponed  on  motion  of  the  Maryland 
members  until  they  might  have  an  opportunity  to  hear 
from  their  Legislature  on  the  subject. 

Congressional  attention  had  been  directed  into  another 
channel  by  the  passage  of  the  resolution  which  led  to  the 
coming  to  Princeton  of  the  Commander  in  Chief  of  the 
American  Army.  This  resolution  was  passed  also  on 
Monday,  July  28th,  and  was  the  beginning  of  the 
wave  of  Washington  enthusiasm  which  reached  its  height 
in  the  audience  given  to  the  General  by  Congress  in 
Nassau  Hall,  to  be  described  in  another  chapter. 

The  next  day  the  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  with 
Sweden,  which  had  been  signed  at  Paris  on  April  3rd, 
was  adopted  and  ratified  with  certain  instructions  to 
Franklin.  The  report  of  the  committee,  Madison,  Hig- 
ginson  and  Hamilton,  on  ratification  and  proclamation  of 
treaty  with  Sweden  had  been  delivered  on  July  24th. 
The  execution  of  the  proclamation  was  postponed  until 
September  25th.' 

^  Letter  Book  E,  p.  409. 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  19,  Vol.  4,  p.  411. 

» Ibid.^  29,  p.  323. 


CHAPTER   VI 

WASHINGTON   IS   CALLED   TO    PRINCETON 

Washington  had  become  very  weary  of  the  ' '  distress- 
ing tedium  "  of  camp  life  at  Newburgh  waiting  for  the 
arrival  of  the  Definitive  Treaty  which  was  to  release  him 
from  public  service,  but  which  was  rapidly  approaching 
a  condition  of  mythical  improbability.  He  had  written 
to  President  Boudinot  of  his  "  most  disagreeable  circum- 
stances "  in  a  letter  dated  July  i6th,  wherein  he  com- 
plained of  his  uncomfortable  situation  * '  with  little  else  to 
do,  than  to  be  teased  with  troublesome  applications  and 
fruitless  demands."  ^  In  order  then  to  wear  away  a  little 
time,  as  he  told  Mr.  Boudinot,  and  also  to  visit  the  north- 
em  and  western  posts  and  to  acquaint  himself  with  the 
requirements  for  their  occupation  after  the  evacuation  by 
by  the  British, '^  he  had  resolved  to  make  a  tour  to  the 
northward,  and  accordingly  on  the  i8th  left  Newburgh 
on  a  trip  which  lasted  nineteen  days. 

In  the  meantime,  at  Princeton  the  question  of  a  peace 
establishment  had  come  up  again.  In  desultory  fashion 
this  had  been  talked  about  already  during  the  stay  at 
Princeton,  but  now  it  was  taken  up  as  if  in  earnest.  As 
early  as  May,  Washington's  advice  on  the  subject  had 
been  sought,  and  at  the  present  juncture  his  friends  be- 
lieved that  if  he  were  invited  to  come  down  to  Princeton 
he  might  find  the  visit  pleasant,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
committee  on  the  peace  establishment  would  be  certain 
to  find  his  presence  profitable.  His  letter  of  July  i6th 
was  referred  to  a  committee  of  which  his  former  secre- 

»  Sparks,  Vol.    8,  p.  467. 
^ Ibid.,  p.  470. 

94 


WASHINGTON   IS   CALLED   TO    PRINCETON  95 

tary,   Dr.   James  McHenry,   was  chairman,  and  on  the 
report  brought  in  by  him  it  was  resolved  on  July  28th 

That  the  President  inform  the  Commander  in  Chief 
that  his  attendence  at  Congress  is  requested  as  soon  as 
may  be  convenient  after  his  return  from  the  Northward . 

Charles  Thomson  made  a  fair  copy  of  the  resolution 
for  transmission  to  Washington,  but  President  Boudinot 
did  not  write  until  the  31st  when,  owing  to  the  careless- 
ness of  a  clerk,  he  could  not  lay  his  hand  on  the  copy. 
It  was  forwarded  under  separate  cover  the  next  day  ^ 
The  inside  history  of  this  resolution  is  told  by  Dr.  Mc- 
Henry  in  a  letter  which  the  Commander  in  Chief  found 
waiting  for  him  on  his  return  to  Newburgh  on  August 

5th: 

Princetown  31st  July,  1783. 
My  dear  General. 

You  will  forgive  me  for  not  writing  to  you  sooner  and 
attribute  it  to  its  real  cause,  not  want  of  the  sincerest 
inclination,  but  of  leisure  —  Perhaps  before  this  reaches 
you  the  President  will  have  transmitted  our  resolve  for 
bringing  you  here  and  relieving  you  from  that  disagree- 
able situation  of  which  you  have  so  justly  complained  in 
your  letter  to  Congress.  I  was  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  that  letter  and  reported  the  substance  of  the 
resolve  which  will  give  us  the  pleasure  of  your  company. 
The  original  resolve  was  that  we  should  avail  ourselves 
of  your  experience  and  advice  in  the  formation  of  the 
peace  establishment,  but  this  was  looped  off  in  order  to  get 
Rhode  Island  to  agree  to  the  other.  This  State  is  opposed 
to  a  peace  establishment.  You  will  however  prepare  your- 
self on  this  subject  as  you  will  be  consulted  on  it,  and 
bring  with  you  such  papers  as  may  be  necessary.  —  To- 
morrow we  shall  make  a  motion  to  have  proper  accom- 
modations provided. 

You  will  be  pleased  to  make  my  respects  to  Mrs. 
Washington  and  believe  me  sincerely  and  with  real  at- 
tachment yours  James  McHenry.' 

*  Boudinot,  Vol.  I,  p.  346. 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  63,  folio  363. 


96  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

Cordial  though  this  letter  was  it  did  not  mention  the 
official  purpose  of  the  call  to  Princeton,  namely  a  com- 
plimentary audience  with  Congress,  nor  did  it  give  any 
hint  as  to  the  length  of  the  visit  Washington  was  expected 
to  make,  and  he  frankly  stated  to  Dr.  McHenry  in  his 
reply  of  August  6th  that  if  the  peace  establishment  were 
the  chief  object  of  his  invitation  to  Princeton  his  visit  was 
hardly  necessary,  since  he  had  already  given  his  full 
views  on  the  subject  to  a  committee  of  which  Alexander 
Hamilton  had  been  chairman,  while  if  his  own  comfort 
were  the  main  consideration  he  would  rather  stay  where 
he  was.  He  was  seeking  retirement  into  private  life 
rather  than  a  change  of  headquarters.  He  had  not  yet 
received  the  copy  of  the  resolution  sent  by  Mr.  Boudinot, 
and  therefore  asked  Dr.  McHenry  to  forward  one  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  also  to  explain  its  real  purpose. 

A  week  later  it  was  moved  by  Mr.  Clark,  with  Mr. 
Read  seconding,  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  confer 
with  Washington  on  the  peace  arrangement  and  that  it 
be  instructed  also  to  report  on  the  proper  manner  in 
which  to  receive  him.  Whereupon  Mr.  Howell  of 
Rhode  Island,  seconded  by  William  Ellery,  moved  to 
postpone  the  resolution  in  order  to  consider  a  substitute 
whose  purport  was  limited  to  the  second  clause  of  the 
Clark  motion.  This  was  lost  on  a  close  yea  and  nay  vote 
of  four  to  five,  New  York  being  divided.  New  Hamp- 
shire having  but  one  delegate  present,  and  Delaware  and 
Georgia  being  unrepresented.  The  Clark  motion  was 
then  carried  clause  by  clause,  Massachusetts  alone  voting 
with  Rhode  Island  against  the  peace  establishment  clause. 
It  was  then  further  ordered  that  the  committee  of  con- 
ference consist  of  five  members,  and  President  Boudinot 
appointed  Messrs.  Charles  Carroll  of  Maryland,  James 
Duane  of  New  York,  Samuel  Holton  of  Massachusetts, 
Samuel  Huntington  of  Connecticut,  and  James  Wilson 


WASHINGTON   IS   CALLED   TO   PRINCETON  97 

of  Pennsylvania,  who  reported  on  the  mode  of  reception 
as  follows : 

That  the  General  on  receiving  his  Audience  shall  be 
introduced  by  two  members  and  placed  in  a  Chair  near 
to  &  on  the  right  hand  of  the  President.  The  President 
to  be  covered  and  to  speak  to  the  General  in  his  Seat : 
and  to  receive  his  address  sitting.  The  members  of  each 
State  during  the  Conference  to  sit  together  &  keep  their 
Seats,  uncovered,  as  usual,  and  to  sit  together  in  the 
order  of  their  States. 

Two  first  Members  present  of  Committee  to  introduce 
the  General.^  — 

With  Colonel  Bland  seconding  him,  Arthur  Lee  then 
moved  the  erection  of  an  equestrian  statue  of  Washing- 
ton at  the  place  where  the  federal  residence  should  be 
established,  and  including  New  Hampshire,  the  eleven 
states  represented  by  twenty-six  delegates,  voted  unan- 
imously in  favor  of  the  motion. 

The  erection  of  a  statue  was  no  new  idea.  As  long 
ago  as  May  8th,  Arthur  Lee  with  Oliver  Ellsworth  and 
Thomas  Mifflin,  had  been  appointed  a  committee  to  report 
a  design  for  such  a  statue,  but  their  report  had  never 
been  acted  on.  It  was  now  called  up.  The  report  had 
been  written  by  Lee,  and  contained  numerous  alterations 
and  additions  in  the  autograph  of  Ellsworth.  With  these 
changes  it  was  adopted  by  Congress,  and  the  Journal 
records  the  transaction  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  Statue  be  of  bronze  —  the  General 
to  be  represented  in  a  Roman  dress  holding  a  truncheon 
in  his  right  hand  and  his  head  encircled  with  a  laurel 
wreath.  The  Statue  to  be  supported  by  a  marble  pedes- 
tal, on  which  are  to  be  represented,  in  basso  relievo,  the 
following  principal  events  of  the  war,  in  which  GenJ 
Washington  commanded  in  person.  Viz :  — The  evacua- 
tion of  Boston  —  the  capture  of  the  Hessians  at  Trenton 

^Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  19,  Vol.  6,  p.  443. 
7 


98  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 


Report  on  Design  of  a  Statue  of  General  Washington. 


—  the  battle  of  Princeton  —  the  action  of  Monmouth  and 
the  surrender  of  York.  On  the  upper  part  of  the  front 
of  the  Pedestal  to  be  engraved  as  follows.  The  United 
States  in  Congress  Assembled,  ordered  this  Statue  to  be 
erected  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1783,  in  honor  of  George 
Washington,  the  illustrious  Commander  in  Chief  of  the 
Armies  of  the  United  States  of  America  during  the  War 


WASHINGTON  IS  CALLED  TO   PRINCETON 


99 


..^et:? 


^,.t/ ^Lf"^^ 


^ 


V(«il» 


^•^t!!^S 


Report  on  Design  of  a  Statue  of  General  Washington. 


which  vindicated  &  secured  their  liberty,  Sovereignty 
and  independence.  — 

Resolved,  That  a  Statue  conformable  to  the  above  plan, 
be  executed  by  the  best  Artist  in  Europe  under  the  super- 
intendence of  the  Minister  of  the  United  States  at  the 


lOO  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

Court  of  Versailles ;  and  that  money  to  defray  the  expence 
of  the  same  be  furnished  from  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  Congress  transmit  to 
the  Minister  of  the  United  States  at  the  Court  of  Ver- 
sailles, the  best  resemblance  of  Gen :  Washington,  that 
can  be  procured  for  the  purpose  of  having  the  above 
Statue  erected ;  together  with  the  fittest  description  of 
the  events,  which  are  to  be  the  subject  of  the  basso 
relievo.^ 

The  next  day  steps  were  taken  to  secure  quarters  for  the 
Commander  in  Chief.  Colonel  Morgan's  wide  acquaint- 
ance with  the  resources  of  the  neighborhood  was  again 
enlisted,  and  he  was  authorized  to  engage  a  house  for  the 
accommodation  of  Washington  during  his  attendance  at 
Congress.  Fortunately  "Rockingham,"  an  estate  at 
Rocky  Hill  on  the  banks  of  the  Millstone  River  about  four 
miles  from  Princeton,  was  at  that  time  waiting  for  a  pur- 
chaser. It  had  been  the  property  of  the  late  Judge  John 
Berrien,  and  consisted  of  a  tract  of  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  of  land,  well  watered  and  wooded,  with  a 
dwelling  on  it  of  more  than  twenty  rooms,  and  those 
numerous  adjoining  outer  buildings  which  formed  part 
of  every  prosperous  colonial  farmhouse.^     Mrs.  Margaret 

•Journal,  August  7th,  1783. 

'  In  Rivington's  Royal  Gazette,  July  5th,  1783,  is  found  this  advertisement : 

For  Sale. 

That  very  healthy  and  fine  situated  farm  Rockingham,  the  property  of  Mrs. 
Margaret  Berrien.  This  farm  lies  on  the  River  Millstone,  about  five  miles  from 
Princeton,  on  the  road  leading  from  Princeton  to  Morristown  ;  it  contains  about 
320  acres,  a  good  proportion  of  Meadow  and  Woodland  ;  the  soil  is  good  for 
wheat  and  natural  grass,  so  that  a  great  quantity  of  the  best  English  Meadow  may 
be  made  with  little  trouble  or  expense  ;  the  place  is  well  watered.  The  House 
contains  upward  of  twenty  Rooms  of  different  kinds,  including  a  kitchen,  very 
conveniently  contrived  and  genteely  finished,  and  cellar  almost  under  the  whole  ; 
there  is  also  a  very  good  Bam  and  Stables,  Coach-House,  Grainary  and  Fowl 
House,  all  painted  ;  a  curious  Smoke  House  and  other  out  houses  ;  there  are 
several  very  fine  young  Apple  Orchards  ;  containing  the  best  grafted  fruit  in  our 
Country,  besides  a  variety  of  Pears,  Plumbs,  Peaches,  and  Cherries,  Raspberrys 
and  Currants  ;  there  is  also  a  small  Tenement  on  said  Farm,  of  three  rooms,  with 
a  Cellar  and  Milkroom,  and  the  whole  Farm  abounds  in  springs  of  the  best  Water. 


WASHINGTON   IS   CALLED   TO   PRINCETON  lOI 

Berrien,  widow  of  the  Judge,  offered  the  property  to 
Colonel  Morgan,  and  after  a  slight  delay  caused  by  a  dif- 
ference of  opinion  as  to  the  rental,  he  took  it  furnished. 
On  the  14th  Dr.  McHenry  sent  to  Washington  a  letter 
commenced  on  the  nth,  explaining  why  Congress  desired 
his  presence  at  Princeton. 

Princetown,  II  Augt.  1783. 

My  dear  General.  I  am  just  now  honored  with  your 
letter  of  the  6th.  You  have  indeed  gone  over  a  great 
deal  of  ground  in  a  very  short  time. 

The  first  motion  for  bringing  you  here  was  to  get  you 
out  of  a  disagreeable  situation,  to  one  less  disagreeable. 
The  second  was  to  get  your  assistance  and  advice  in  the 
arrangements  for  peace.  It  may  be  necessary  besides  to 
consult  you  respecting  promotions,  and  on  a  variety  of 
military  subjects.  I  believe,  on  the  whole,  that  your 
being  near  Congress  will  be  a  public  good.  I  send  you 
the  address  to  be  made  you  from  the  chair  which  will 
serve  to  explain  the  instructions  of  Congress. 

Mrs.  Berrian  has  offered  her  house  which  will  be  en- 
gaged for  your  reception.  As  there  is  no  absolute  neces- 
sity for  your  immediate  attendance  you  may  prepare  at 
leisure  for  your  removal. 

Congress  has  received  no  acct.  of  the  definitive  treate 
—  but  it  appears  pretty  certain  that  definitive  orders  havy 
been  received  at  New  York  for  its  evacuation. 

With  the  most  sincere  regards  and  respect  I  have  the 
honor  to  be  my  dear  General 

Your  Ob* 

James  McHenry. 

There  are  also  several  thousand  very  thrifty  Red  Cedar  Trees,  a  great  number  of 
which  have  been  trimmed  and  properly  cultivated.  A  tolerable  good  Stock,  with 
some  Farming  Utensils  will  be  disposed  of  to  any  person  who  should  incline  to 
purchase  said  Farm  if  agreeable. 

A  briefer  advertisement  is  found  in  the  Pennsylvania  Packet,  October  14th, 
1 783,  which  makes  use  of  the  fact  that  Washington  was  occupying  the  house. 


I02  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

14th.  As  the  President  sends  you  a  copy  of  the  address 
it  will  be  unnecessary  for  me  to  do  it.  Gen.  Lincoln 
carries  it.^ 

On  the  1 2th  Mr.  Boudinot  had  sent  to  Washington 
an  official  letter  informing  him  of  these  arrangements, 
and  in  a  private  letter  of  the  same  date  he  forwarded  a 
copy  of  the  congratulatory  address  that  would  be  made 
to  him  at  the  public  audience  with  Congress,  together 
with  a  copy  of  the  act  passed  on  the  7th  ordering  the 
bronze  equestrian  statue.^ 

Regardless  of  the  condition  of  his  horses  Washington 
would  have  started  for  Princeton  immediately  on  the 
receipt  of  President  Boudinot's  letter  enclosing  the  reso- 
lution of  Congress,  but  on  returning  from  his  northern 
trip  he  had  found  Mrs.  Washington  smitten  with  fever. 
Her  ill  health,  coupled  with  the  fact  that  he  desired  to 
pack  up  his  papers  and  make  final  arrangements  for  re- 
moval, postponed  his  departure  until  the  i8th,  when, 
leaving  Major  General  Knox  in  charge  of  the  camp  at 
Newburgh,  he  at  length  set  out  for  Princeton.  On  Sat- 
urday, August  23rd,  he  reached  Rocky  Hill  "  in  exceed- 
ing good  health,"  as  Arthur  Lee  wrote  to  James  Monroe.^ 
Besides  his  suite  he  had  with  him  a  guard  of  twelve  brawny 
young  New  England  troopers  belonging  to  Van  Heer's 
Dragoons,  who  pitched  their  tents  on  the  lawn  around 
"Rockingham,"  that  of  Captain  Howe,  the  officer  in 
command,  being  located  directly  in  front  of  the  house.* 
Among  his  pieces  of  baggage  were  four  boxes  and  three 
trunks  containing  his  books  and  papers.* 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  64,  folio  13. 
*Ibid.,  64,  folio  21,  25. 

'Monroe  Papers,  Writings  to  Monroe,  Vol.  7,  p.  815.  See  also  Virginia  State 
Papers,  Vol.  3,  p.  526. 

*  Dunlap,  History  of  the  Arts  of  Design  in  the  United  States,  Vol.  i,  p.  254. 
5  Letters  to  Washington,  64,  folio  39. 


WASHINGTON   IS   CALLED   TO   PRINCETON  IO3 


"ROCKINGHAM,"   GENERAL  WASHINGTON'S   HEADQUARTERS.' 

On  Monday,  the  25th,  Congress  was  formally  notified 
of  the  arrival  of  the  Commander  in  Chief,  and  it  was 
ordered  that  an  audience  be  given  to  him  the  next  day  at 
high  noon.  Princeton,  town  and  gown,  was  fully  alive 
to  the  importance  of  the  occasion  and,  not  waiting  until 
the  morrow  when  Washington's  time  and  attention  would 
be  occupied  with  his  Congressional  reception  and  probable 
social  engagements,  held  a  public  meeting  early  on  Mon- 
day at  which  the  following  address  was  drawn  up  to  be 
sent  post  haste  to  Rocky  Hill. 

To  His  excellency  General  Washington,  &c,  &c, 

&c,— 

The  inhabitants  of  Princeton  &  neighbourhood  with  the 
president  &  faculty  of  the  college  beg  leave  to  embrace 
this  opportunity  of  congratulating  your  excellency  on  the 
late  glorious  peace  on  your  meeting  with  congress  in  this 

*  From  the  drawing  made  in  1850  for  B.  F.  Lossing's  Pictorial  Field-book  of 
the  Revolution  (New  York,  Harper  &  Bros.,  1852),  Vol.  2,  p.  837. 


I04  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

place  &  the  present  happy  &  promising  state  of  public 
affairs. 

As  the  college  of  New  Jersey  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  religion  &  learning  was  among  the  first  places  in 
America  that  suffered  by  the  ravages  of  the  enemy  so 
happily  this  place  &  neighborhood  was  the  scene  of  one 
of  the  most  important  &  seasonable  checks  which  they 
received  in  their  progress.  The  surprise  of  the  Hessians 
at  Trenton  &  the  Subsequent  victory  at  Princeton  re- 
dounded much  to  the  honour  of  the  commander  who 
planned  &  the  handful  of  troops  with  him  which  executed 
the  measures,  /et  were  they  even  of  greater  moment 
to  the  cause  of  America  than  they  were  brilliant  as  par- 
ticular military  exploits. 

We  contemplate  &  adore  the  wisdom  &  goodness  of 
divine  providence  as  displayed  in  many  instances  in  favour 
of  the  United  States  during  the  course  of  the  war,  but  in 
none  more  than  in  the  unanimous  appointment  of  your 
excellency  to  the  command  of  the  army.  When  we  con- 
sider the  continuance  of  your  life  &  health  the  discern- 
ment prudence  fortitude  &  patience  of  your  conduct  by 
which  you  have  not  only  sacrificed  as  others  have  done 
person  &  property  but  frequently  even  reputation  itself 
in  the  public  cause  choosing  rather  to  risk  your  own  name 
than  expose  the  nakedness  of  your  country  —  When  we 
consider  the  great  &  unabated  attachment  of  the  army  & 
the  cordial  esteem  of  all  ranks  of  men  &  of  every  state  in 
the  union  which  you  have  so  long  Enjoyed  &  when  we 
consider  in  contrast  the  british  leaders  who  have  been  in 
Succession  opposed  to  you  their  attempts  to  blast  each 
others  characters  &  the  short  duration  of  their  com- 
mand we  cannot  help  being  of  opinion  that  God  him- 
self has  raised  you  up  as  a  fit  &  proper  instrument  for 
establishing  &  securing  the  liberty  &  happiness  of  these 
states. 

We  pray  that  the  Almighty  may  continue  to  protect  & 
bless  you  &  that  having  survived  so  much  fatigue  &  so 
many  dangers  from  traitors  &  in  the  field  you  may  enjoy 


WASHINGTON    IS   CALLED    TO    PRINCETON  10$ 

many  years  of  repose  in  the   bosom  of   your   grateful 

country. 

Signed  in  behalf  of  the  whole  in  a  public  meeting  by 

Jn°  Witherspoon 
Rob*  Stockton 
Jonathan  Deare 
James  Riddle 
James  M'Comb 
Enos  Kelsey 
Francis  J.  James. 

Princeton  August  25,  1783.^ 

Of  this  address  Washington  immediately  sent  the  fol- 
lowing acknowledgment : 

To  the  Inhabitants  of  Princeton  and  Neighbour 

HOOD   together   WITH   THE    PRESIDENT    &     FACULTY 

OF  THE  College. 
Gentlemen  : 

I  receive,  with  the  utmost  satisfaction  and  acknowlege 
with  great  sensibility  your  kind  congratulations. 

^  Letters  to  Washington,  no,  folio  7  ;  ?\io  Pennsylvania  Packet,  August  30th, 
1783,  and  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  September  3d,  1783.  The  body  of  the  docu- 
ment appears  to  be  in  the  hand  of  tutor  James  Riddle,  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
college  address  to  Congress.     It  is  endorsed  : 

"  Princeton,  2.^^^  Aug*  1783.  Address  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Princeton  &  of  the 
President  &  Faculty  of  the  New  Jersey  Colledge  to  His  Excell?,  Gen^  Washington." 

A  version  of  this  document  is  published  in  Witherspoon's  Works  (Philadelphia, 
1801,  Vol.  4,  p.  285-6  and  Edinburgh,  1805,  Vol.  9,  p.  152-3).  Comparison 
reveals  striking  differences.  In  the  printed  version,  which  is  undated,  the  opening 
paragraph  reads : 

The  President  and  Faculty  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  beg  leave  to  embrace 
this  opportunity  of  congratulating  your  Excellency  on  the  present  happy  and  prom- 
ising state  of  public  affairs  ;  and  of  sincerely  wishing  you  prosperity  and  success  in 
the  ensuing  campaign,  and  in  what  may  yet  remain  of  the  important  conflict  in 
which  the  United  States  are  engaged. 

The  second  and  third  paragraphs  contain  numerous  verbal  changes,  and  the 
clause  referring  to  the  British  leaders  is  omitted.     The  closing  paragraph  reads  : 

We  pray  that  the  Almighty  may  continue  to  protect  and  bless  you  —  that  the 
late  signal  success  of  the  American  arms,  may  pave  the  way  to  a  speedy  and  last- 
ing peace  ;  and  that,  having  survived  so  much  fatigue,  and  so  many  dangers,  you 
may  enjoy  many  years  of  honorable  repose  in  the  bosom  of  your  grateful  country. 

John  Witherspoon. 

The  inaccurate  and  special  editing  of  which  this  version  is  guilty  is  patent 
when  one  considers  the  circumstances  under  which  Washington  came  to  Princeton 
in  1783. 


I06  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT    PRINCETON 

The  prosperous  situation  of  our  public  affairs,  the 
flourishing  State  of  this  place,  and  the  revival  of  the 
Seat  of  Literature  from  the  ravages  of  War,  encrease  to 
the  highest  degree,  the  pleasure  I  feel  in  visiting  (at  the 
return  of  Peace)  the  Scene  of  our  important  Military 
transactions,  and  in  recollecting  the  period  when  the  Tide 
of  adversity  began  to  turn,  and  better  fortune  to  smile 
upon  us. 

If  in  the  execution  of  an  arduous  Office,  1  have  been  so 
happy  as  to  discharge  my  duty  to  the  Public  with  Fidelity 
and  success,  and  to  obtain  the  good  Opinion  of  my  fellow 
Soldiers  and  fellow  Citizens,  I  attribute  all  the  Glory  to 
that  Supreme  Being  who  hath  caused  the  several  parts, 
which  have  been  employed  in  the  production  of  the 
wonderful  events  we  now  contemplate,  to  harmonise  in 
the  most  perfect  manner  and  who  was  able  by  the  hum 
blest  Instruments,  as  well  as  by  the  most  powerful  means 
to  establish  and  secure  the  Liberty  and  happiness  of  the 
United  States. 

I  now  return  to  you.  Gentlemen,  my  thanks  for  your 
benevolent  wishes,  and  make  it  my  earnest  prayer  to 
Heaven,  that  every  temporal  and  divine  Blessing  may 
be  bestowed  on  the  Inhabitants  of  Princeton  on  the 
Neighbourhood,  and  on  the  President  and  Faculty  of 
the  College  of  New-Jersey,  and  that  the  usefulness  of 
this  Institution,  in  promoting  the  Interests  of  Religion 
and  Learning,  may  be  universally  extended. 
I  am,  Gent'n,  &c, 

G.  Washington. 
Rocky  Hill,  25th  August  1783.^ 

At  about  eleven  o'clock  the  next  morning,  Tuesday, 
August  26th,  General  Washington,  mounted  on  his  favor- 
ite roan  gelding  with  the  old  crooked  saddle  and  the 
familiar  buff  and  blue  saddlecloth  of  flowered  pattern,* 
and  followed  by  his  little  escort  of  troopers,  started  down 
the  dusty  road  to  Princeton. 

'Letters  of  Washington  C,  Vol.  5,  p.  51  ;  also  Pennsylvania  Packet,  August 
30th,  1783. 

•See  Capt.  Lawrence's  description  in  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  Vol.  15,  p. 
416. 


WASHINGTON   IS   CALLED   TO   PRINCETON  107 

It  was  one  of  the  proudest  days  of  his  life  —  a  day  that 
made  him  willing  to  forget  for  the  time  the  discomforts 
and  irksomeness  of  past  months  and  even  the  trials  and 
weariness  of  the  past  seven  years.  Not  to  many  men  in 
the  world's  history  has  it  been  given  to  deserve  an  honor 
such  as  he  was  about  to  receive.  The  Definitive  Treaty 
for  which  the  nation  was  waiting  would  seal  before  the 
world  the  triumph  of  American  arms.  And  for  his  con- 
duct of  the  war,  for  his  achievement  of  that  triumph  he 
was  now  to  receive  the  public  thanks  of  his  country. 
From  Congress  he  was  to  hear  official  recognition  of  the 
success  of  the  struggle  for  liberty  in  which  he  had  for  so 
long  been  the  one  great  dominant  figure.  He  had  already 
perused  an  advance  copy  of  the  address  that  the  Presi- 
dent of  Congress  would  make  to  him,  and  in  the  pocket 
of  his  closely  fitting  skirted  coat  he  carried  his  carefully 
written  reply.  He  probably  realized  that  this  midsum- 
mer day  would  witness  the  climax  of  his  military  career ; 
but  this  realization  brought  with  it  no  regret,  for  in  his 
mind  that  morning,  beside  the  errand  of  the  day,  there 
was  but  one  other  thought  —  his  knowledge  that  the  audi- 
ence to  which  he  was  going  would  bring  him  one  step 
nearer  Mount  Vernon  and  the  old  familiar  haunts  beside 
the  smooth  blue  stretches  of  the  Potomac. 

The  cavalcade  reached  Princeton  shortly  before  noon. 
An  air  of  ill-suppressed  excitement  pervaded  the  village, 
centering  about  Nassau  Hall.  The  taverns  had  been 
crowded  to  overflowing  the  night  before ;  beds  were  at  a 
premium.  The  morning  stages  from  Philadelphia  and 
New  Brunswick  had  been  weighed  down  with  distin- 
guished passengers,  who  added  the  dignity  of  their  pres- 
ence to  the  picturesque  groups  investing  the  hundred 
yards  of  village  street  with  continuous  interest  to  the  sun- 
burned Jerseymen  flocking  in  from  the  hamlets  and  farms 
of  the  vicinity.     Black-gowned  collegians  were  grouped 


I08  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

about  the  central  entrance  of  Nassau  Hall  waiting  to  see 
the  hero  of  the  Revolution  come  in,  while  the  gallery  of 
the  prayer-hall  was  filled  with  visitors  long  before  the 
clocks  struck  twelve.  The  floor  of  the  hall  was  reserved 
for  Congress ;  the  members  were  grouped  together  by 
States,  seated  and  uncovered.  President  Boudinot,  his 
ruddy  countenance  cheerier  than  ever,  sat  facing  them, 
wearing  his  hat  as  a  sign  of  authority.  By  his  side  was 
a  vacant  chair.  Suddenly  the  buzz  of  conversation  ceased  ; 
the  shouts  of  undergraduates  outside  rang  through  the 
building;  the  door  of  the  prayer-hall  swung  open  and 
escorted  by  two  members  of  the  committee  on  arrange- 
ments George  Washington  entered. 

He  was  conducted  to  the  seat  beside  the  president.  If 
he  looked  about  him  at  all  during  the  slight  pause  which 
ensued,  his  glance  must  have  fallen  on  a  grim  reminder 
of  one  of  his  most  brilliant  strategic  successes.  For  on 
the  chapel  wall  was  hanging  a  massive  gilt  picture  frame ; 
the  full  length  portrait  which  it  had  contained  had  been 
torn  away  by  an  American  cannon  ball  during  the  brief 
bombardment  which  ended  the  battle  of  Princeton  in 
1777  by  causing  the  surrender  of  the  British  troops 
sheltered  in  the  college  building.  The  ruined  portrait 
had  been  that  of  His  Britannic  Majesty,  George  the 
Second. 

When  Washington  had  taken  the  vacant  chair.  Presi- 
dent Boudinot,  still  seated  and  covered,  read  amid 
intense  silence  the  following  congratulatory  address  of 
Congress : 

Sir,  Congress  feel  particular  pleasure  in  seeing  your 
Excellency  and  in  congratulating  you  on  the  success  of  a 
war  in  which  you  have  acted  so  conspicuous  a  part. 

It  has  been  the  singular  happiness  of  the  United  States 
that  during  a  war  so  long,  so  dangerous  and  so  important 
Providence  has  been  graciously  pleased  to  preserve  the 


WASHINGTON   IS   CALLED   TO   PRINCETON  IO9 

life  of  a  general  who  has  merited  and  possessed  the  un- 
interrupted confidence  and  affection  of  his  fellow  citizens. 
In  other  nations  many  have  performed  services,  for  which 
they  have  deserved  and  received  the  thanks  of  the  Public. 
But  to  you,  Sir,  peculiar  praise  is  due.  Your  services 
have  been  essential  in  acquiring  and  establishing  the  free- 
dom and  independence  of  your  country.  They  deserve 
the  grateful  acknowledgments  of  a  free  and  independent 
Nation.  Those  acknowledgments  Congress  have  the 
satisfaction  of  expressing  to  your  Excellency. 

Hostilities  have  now  ceased,  but  your  Country  still 
needs  your  services.  She  wishes  to  avail  herself  of  your 
talents  in  forming  the  arrangements  which  will  be  neces- 
sary for  her  in  the  time  of  peace.  For  this  reason  your 
attendance  at  Congress  has  been  requested.  A  committee 
is  appointed  to  confer  with  your  excellency  &  to  receive 
your  assistance  in  preparing  &  digesting  plans  relative  to 
those  important  objects.^ 

Washington  then  read  this  modest  reply : 

Mr.  President,  I  am  too  sensible  of  the  honorable  re- 
ception I  have  now  experienced  not  to  be  penetrated  with 
the  deepest  feelings  of  gratitude 

Notwithstanding  Congress  appear  to  estimate  the  value 
of  my  life  beyond  any  services  I  have  been  able  to  render 
the  United  States,  yet  I  must  be  permitted  to  consider 
the  wisdom  and  unanimity  of  our  national  councils,  the 
firmness  of  our  citizens,  and  the  patience  and  bravery  of 
our  Troops  which  have  produced  so  happy  a  termination 
of  the  war  as  the  most  conspicuous  effect  of  the  divine 
interposition  and  the  surest  presage  of  our  future  hap- 
piness 

Highly  gratified  by  the  favorable  sentiments  which 
Congress  are  pleased  to  express  of  my  past  Conduct  and 
amply  rewarded  by  the  confidence  and  affection  of  my 
fellow  citizens ;  I  cannot  hesitate  to  contribute  my  best 
endeavours  towards  the  establishment  of  the  national  se- 
curity in  whatever  manner  the  Sovereign  power  may 
think  proper  to  direct,  until  the  ratification  of  the  defini- 
tive treaty  of  peace,  or  the  final  evacuation  of  our  country 

^Journal,  August  26tb. 


no  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

by  the  British  forces ;  after  either  of  which  events,  I 
shall  ask  permission  to  retire  to  the  peaceful  shade  of 
private  life. 

Perhaps,  Sir,  no  occasion  may  offer  more  suitable  than 
the  present  to  express  my  humble  thanks  to  God  and  my 
grateful  acknowledgments  to  my  country  for  the  great 
and  uniform  support  I  have  received  in  every  vicissitude 
of  fortune  and  for  the  many  distinguished  honors  which 
Congress  have  been  pleased  to  confer  upon  me  in  the 
course  of  the  war.  ^ 

The  President's  address  to  Washington  was  the  pro- 
duction of  a  committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  Holten, 
Wilson,  Carroll,  Huntington  and  Duane.  Mr.  Boudinot 
made  the  final  corrections.  The  committee  reported  on 
August  9th,  when  the  address  as  it  was  delivered  on  the 
26th  was  agreed  to,  the  only  important  alteration  being 
the  commendable  excision  of  this  infelicitous  paragraph 
in  the  beginning  of  the  address  after  the  words  * '  so  con- 
spicuous a  part,  "  viz : 

The  Services  which  you  have  rendered  to  your 
Country,  have  been  extensive,  laborious  and  difficult. 
Those  Parts  of  them  which  have  been  the  least  known, 
have  not  been  the  last  entitled  to  Applause.  In  many 
Periods  of  the  War,  your  Success  depended  as  much  on 
the  wise  Caution,  with  which  you  concealed,  as  on  the 
persevering  Fortitude,  with  which  you  surmounted  the 
Obstacles  that  lay  before  you.  Your  Retreats  have  been 
marked  with  Circumstances  not  less  honorable  to  your 
military  Character  than  those  which  have  distinguished 
your  Victories. 

With  the  manuscript  of  the  report  on  the  address  is  an 
engrossed  copy  endorsed  by  Charles  Thomson:  ''The 
Speech  to  Gen.  Washington  August  26th,  1783."  This 
is  presumably  the  official  copy  which  President  Boudinot 
used.     Under  the  endorsement  on  the  back  of  the  report 

"^Journal,  August  26th.  A  draft  of  this  reply,  containing  Washington's  auto- 
graph corrections,  is  among  his  letters,  Series  A,  Vol.  7,  p.  121. 


WASHINGTON   IS   CALLED   TO   PRINCETON  III 

is  an  autograph  note  by  Boudinot,  to  the  effect  that: 
* '  There  should  not  any  Copy  of  this  be  given  out  to  any 
Person  whatever  untill  it  is  executed.  E.B."  Follow- 
ing the  engrossed  address  is  a  copy  of  Washington's 
reply  in  a  clerk's  hand,  and  endorsed  by  Thomson: 
♦'General  Washington's  reply  to  the  speech  delivered 
to  him   by   the   President    of    Congress   August    26th, 

1783."^ 

The  simple  ceremony  was  over ;  but  its  very  simplicity 
had  stamped  it  with  striking  dignity.  Stripped  as  the 
occasion  was  of  all  that  was  merely  external  it  had  drawn 
its  impressiveness  solely  from  the  genuineness  of  the 
motives  that  gave  it  being,  and  from  the  poise  that  con- 
trolled its  proceedings. 

Whether  later  in  the  day  there  was  a  banquet  in  Wash- 
ington's honor  cannot  be  ascertained ;  no  hint  of  it  has 
been  found,  and  yet  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  so  patent 
an  opportunity  was  neglected  by  men  whose  social  pro- 
clivities were  their  leading  common  trait. 

Charles  Thomson  lost  no  time  in  carrying  out  his  orders 
relative  to  the  proposed  statue.  Washington  was  scarcely 
settled  at  "  Rockingham  "  when  he  received  a  communi- 
cation from  the  energetic  Secretary : 

Princeton  August  28*..  1783 
Sir 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  enclosing  an  Act  of  Congress 
for  erecting  an  equestrian  Statue  in  honor  of  your  Excel- 
lency —  The  Bearer,  M'  Wright,  is  recommended  to  me 
as  an  Artist  skilled  in  taking  Busts,  —  &  As  I  am  anxious 
to  execute  in  the  best  manner  the  part  assigned  to  me  in 
this  agreeable  business,  I  take  the  liberty  of  introducing 
him  to  you  and  requesting  the  favour  of  your  Excellency 
to  admit  him  to  try  his  talents.  I  must  also  beg  the 
favour  of  your  assistance  in  giving  the  fittest  description 

^Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  19,  Vol.  6,  pp.  445,  449,  453  and  Letters  to  Washington, 
64,  folio  27. 


112  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT    PRINCETON 

of  the  events  which  are  to  be  the  subject  of  the  basso 
relievo  — 

With  the  greatest  esteem  &  respect 
I  have  the  honor  to  be 

Your  Excellency's  most  obed'.  & 
most  humble  Serv*. 

Chas  Thomson.^ 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  64,  p.  116. 

Joseph  Wright,  a  pupil  of  Benjamin  West,  carried  a  letter  of  introduction  from 
Franklin.  He  was  the  son  of  Patience  Wright,  who  had  reputation  as  a  wax 
modeler,  and  from  whom  he  had  derived  his  skill  "in  taking  Busts."  At  Rocky 
Hill  he  made  a  plaster  mask  of  Washington,  but  had  hardly  taken  it  off  the 
General's  face  when  he  clumsily  let  it  fall.  Washington  refused  to  submit  to  the 
ordeal  again  at  his  hand.  According  to  Dunlap,  Wright,  however,  made 
portraits  of  both  General  and  Mrs.  Washington,  and  we  know  that  subsequently 
he  completed  a  bust  of  the  former,  for  in  January,  1785,  at  the  suggestion  of 
Thomson,  he  sent  in  his  bill  of  fifty  guineas  (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  19,  Vol.  6,  p.  479). 
Two  months  later  he  wrote  to  Thomson  asking  what  he  should  do  with  the  bust 
{ibid.,  p.  475),  and  on  April  1st  Thomson  reported  to  Congress  that  the  bust  was 
finished  and  that  he  would  have  transmitted  it  to  the  United  States  Minister  at 
Versailles  if  any  measure  for  defraying  the  expense  had  been  taken.  He  asked 
that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  devise  ways  and  means  for  settling  the  account 
and  transporting  the  bust  to  Europe.  The  matter  was  referred  to  Messrs.  John- 
son, Bedford  and  Howell  {ibid.,  p.  473),  whose  report  was  adopted  on  April  6th, 
resolving  that  the  President  of  Congress,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  draw  on  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States  in  favor  of  Wright  for  233^  dollars,  being  the  amount  charged, 
and  Thomson  was  ordered  to  have  the  bust  brought  to  Trenton  where  Congress 
was  sitting,  and  to  await  further  orders.  It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  at  this  late 
date  to  add  that  the  equestrian  statue  was  never  completed. 


CHAPTER   VII 

PRINCETON   IN    1 783 

It  seems  to  have  been  taken  for  granted  that  no  busi- 
ness of  any  great  importance  would  be  transacted  at 
Princeton  until  the  residence  question  was  settled. 
Nevertheless  as  this  was  not  to  come  up  until  October, 
it  was  expected  that  in  the  meantime  the  Definitive 
Treaty  would  arrive,  and  it  was  hoped  that  in  any  case 
some  progress  might  be  made  with  the  peace  establish- 
ment. The  delay  in  the  coming  of  the  treaty,  although 
the  betting  in  London  had  been  7  to  4  that  it  would  be 
signed  before  the  middle  of  August,^  the  uncertainty  as 
to  what  should  be  done  in  the  interim,  the  lingering  of 
the  British  troops  in  New  York,  the  wide  divergence  of 
opinion  on  almost  every  question  of  policy,  the  thin  atten- 
dance of  representatives,  and  above  all  the  lack  of  genuine 
leaders  such  as  had  directed  national  affairs  during  the 
war,  saturated  Congressional  proceedings  with  a  spirit  of 
hesitancy  that  degenerated,  before  the  summer  passed, 
into  what  might  almost  be  called  indolence.  Ezra 
L'Hommedieu  noticed  this  on  his  arrival  in  August  to 
take  his  seat  as  a  representative  from  New  York.  ' '  Con- 
gress," said  he  to  Governor  Clinton,  "do  not  seem  at 
present  to  be  hurried  with  Business."*  Two  months 
later  James  McHenry  alluded  with  mock  deference  to  the 
"creeping  politics"  of  his  associates;'  and  Col.  Theo- 
doric  Bland  wrote  on  August  13th  to  General  Weedon 
that  there  was  little  being  done  of  interest  or  of  stirring 

^New  York  Royal  Gazette,  September  13th,  1783. 

*  Clinton  MS5.  No.  5157,  August  iSth. 

*  Hamilton,  Vol.  I,  p.  411. 

8  113 


114  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

nature.^  The  letters  of  Madison  and  Washington,  to 
name  only  two  of  the  more  alert  observers  on  the  ground, 
also  echo  this  thought. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  midsummer  months  were  loi- 
tered away  in  rural  surroundings  which  had  their  com- 
pensations even  if  they  lacked  metropolitan  comforts  and 
public  business  suffered.  It  may  not  be  out  of  place  then 
before  passing  on  to  the  really  important  doings  of  the 
autumn  to  picture  to  ourselves  the  Jersey  village  that 
Congress  had  made  its  temporary  home. 

The  summer  of  1783  was  excessively  hot,  and  in  Phila- 
delphia at  least  there  was  much  sickness,  but  the  health- 
fulness  of  Princeton  was  a  point  on  which  everyone 
agreed,  whatever  his  political  tenets  may  have  been. 
Judge  David  Howell,  who  was  representing  Rhode 
Island,  says  in  a  letter  of  August  24th  to  Moses  Brown 
that,  while  suffocating  heat  and  numerous  deaths  were 
taking  place  in  Philadelphia,  ' '  a  salutary  free  air  and 
general  healthfulness  "  prevailed  in  Princeton.  Some  of 
the  Southern  members,  he  declares,  were  so  enamored  of 
the  place  that  they  were  contemplating  the  purchase  of 
property.  It  was  even  called  the  Montpelier  of  America.^ 
Its  proximity  to  New  York  and  Philadelphia  —  a  leisurely 
day's  ride  by  the  stage  or  half  a  day  if  one  were  in  a 
hurry,  —  coupled  with  its  pleasantness  of  situation  tended 
to  increase  the  popularity  and  importance  which  it  had 
so  suddenly  acquired.  Never  had  a  village  of  seventy- 
five  houses,  for  this  was  the  size  of  Princeton  at  that 
time,  been  such  a  Mecca  for  prominent  men,  distinguished 
strangers,  and  prospective  public  beneficiaries.  As 
Washington  remarked,  it  was  thronged  with  visitors 
"from  different  parts  of  the  Globe,  some  to  trade,  some 

'T.  Balch,  Papers  relating  to  the  Maryland  Line,  Phila.  (1857),  p.  21 1, 

*  R.  I.  Hist.  Soc.  Moses  Brown  Papers,  Vol.  4,  Doc.  No.  1053,  p.  55.     For 

a  copy  of  this  letter  I  am  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Clarence  S.  Brigham, 

Librarian  of  the  Society. 


PRINCETON   IN    1 783  II5 

for  amusement,  and  some,  I  presume,  to  spy  the  land."  * 
They  ranged  from  his  own  former  housekeeper,  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Thompson,^  a  sweet  old  lady  of  eighty,  to  for- 
eigners of  rank  like  the  Count  Del  Verm6,  a  nobleman 
from  Milan  whose  purpose  was  * '  to  make  a  Tour  through 
the  united  States,  and  to  see  the  principle  Men  of  each 
State,"  '  and  who  incidentally  borrowed  fifty  guineas  from 
General  Washington.  The  Count  de  Wengierski,  a 
Polish  nobleman,  accompanied  by  an  Englishman  named 
Vernon,  came  to  spend  some  days  at  Princeton,  bearing 
letters  of  introduction  from  Clement  Biddle,  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  the  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne.*  An  English  pro- 
moter, Arthur  Noble,  who  was  nursing  a  scheme  for 
bringing  over  from  Ireland  several  families  of  immigrants, 
was  directed  to  Princeton  by  Robert  Morris,  in  order  to 
get  Washington's  opinion  as  to  the  best  locality  wherein 
to  settle.'  Thomas  Paine,  on  Washington's  advice  and 
invitation,  came  on  from  Bordentown  so  that  his  presence 
might  at  least  remind  Congress  of  his  past  services,  inas- 
much as  he  felt  too  modest  to  push  more  noisily  his  claims 
for  consideration.^ 

^To  Rochambeau,  October  15th. 

*  Mrs.  Thompson  had  resigned  her  position  on  account  of  age.  Washington 
wished  her  to  give  him  an  account  to  settle,  but  she  gently  refused,  saying  that  she 
had  received  ;^i79-6-8  for  her  services,  which  she  considered  ample  with  the  many 
kindnesses  he  had  shown  to  her.  She  went  back  to  New  York,  but  found  all  her 
property  destroyed  by  the  enemy,  and  before  long  she  became  penniless,  as  well 
as  homeless.  Washington  then  begged  her  to  come  to  Mt.  Vernon  to  live  under 
his  care,  but  she  replied  that  she  was  too  old  and  infirm  to  undertake  the  journey. 
In  February  1785  she  applied  to  Congress  for  aid,  pathetically  adding  that  she 
would  not  long  be  a  public  burden,  and  a  pension  of  $100  a  year  was  without 
delay  granted  to  her.     Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  19,  Vol.  6,  p.  37  ;  78,  Vol.  22,  p.  297. 

*  Boudinot  to  Washington.     Letters  to  Washington,  63,  folio  307  and  Boudinot, 
Vol.  I,  p.  342. 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  64,  folios  249  and  251. 
^  Ibid.,  folio  297. 

'  Letters  to  Washington  P,  Vol.  3,  No.  512,  and  Letters  to  Washington,  64, 
folio  193. 


Il6  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

Discharged  soldiers,  with  memorials  of  one  sort  or 
another,  straggled  into  the  village  and  spent  their  spare 
time  at  the  taverns  swapping  stories  of  their  hardships 
and  their  valor.  Generals  like  Armand,  Marquis  de  la 
Rouerie,^  and  Du  Portail,  came  to  urge  special  compen- 
sation for  the  corps  they  commanded,  and  private  indi- 
viduals like  Stephen  Moore,  who  owned  the  land  and 
timber  used  in  the  barracks  and  fortifications  at  West 
Point,  spent  weeks  at  Princeton  before  they  contrived  to 
get  their  due.^  Young  artists  like  Joseph  Wright  and 
William  Dunlap  came  seeking  fame  and  fortune,  and  hob- 
nobbed with  the  clerks  of  Congress,  who  themselves 
struck  for  higher  wages  while  at  Princeton  in  order  to 
keep  pace  with  the  increased  demands  on  their  slender 
wallets.  One  of  the  marked  characters  in  the  village 
during  the  summer  must  have  been  an  inventor  named 
James  McMechen  who  tried  to  interest  Congress  in  his 
wonderful  discovery  '  *  for  facilitating  the  Navigation  of 
these  long  and  Tedious  fresh  water  Rivers  to  the  west- 
ward of  the  alighany  mountains."  In  return  for  a  few 
thousand  acres  of  land  in  the  West,  he  proposed  to  build 
at  government  expense  a  new  kind  of  boat  of  20  tons  bur- 
den which  by  certain  mechanical  contrivances — "to  be 
wrought  at  no  greater  expence  than  that  of  five  men  & 
a  Boy  "  — would  sail  500  miles  down  the  Ohio  with  its  20 
tons  and  return  upstream  with  a  5  ton  load  in  the  incred- 
ible time  of  120  hours  or  10  working  days —  "  extraordi- 
nary occurrences  &  accidents  excepted."  A  convenient 
pigeon-hole  for  his  petition  was  found  by  Messrs.  Wil- 
liamson, McComb  and  Arnold.'  But  not  even  this  decent 
burial  was  the  fate  of  the  petition  of  a  Frenchman  named 

^  See  Letters  to  Washington,  64,  folio  219. 

*For  Moore's  case  see  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  78,  Vol.  16,  pp.  375,  389  &\iA  Jour- 
nal for  September  25th, 

»Pap,  Cont.  Cong.,  78,  Vol.  16,  p.  359,  363. 


PRINCETON   IN    1783  II7 

Collignon,  who  wished  Congress  to  purchase  a  copy 
of  his  book  entitled:  "  D6couverte  d'Etalons  justes 
naturels  et  invariables,  et  de  la  reduction  k  une  parfaite 
uniformity  de  tous  les  poids,  mesures  et  pieds  des  posses- 
sions de  Leurs  hautes  Puissances,  les  Etats  unis  d'Am6r- 
ique,  par  des  moyens  simples  avantageux  a  tout  le  monde, 
et  faciles  k  ex6cuter."  The  practice  of  the  principles 
expounded  in  this  masterpiece  would,  according  to  its 
author,  yield  to  the  United  States  three  millions  of  livres 
steady  annual  revenue,  while  the  first  year  of  its  opera- 
tion would  net  not  less  than  nine  millions,  no  small  matter 
to  a  poverty-stricken  young  republic.  But  his  book  was 
too  good  to  be  true,  and  his  offer  met  with  chilling  inac- 
tion. Nothing  was  done  with  it.^  Captain  John  Paul 
Jones  was  another  notable  visitor.  He  came  to  interest 
Congress  in  the  claims  of  the  American  seamen  of  the 
Bonhomme  Richard,  and  in  the  prizes  which  Denmark 
had  taken  from  him  and  had  returned  to  Great  Britain. 
He  will  appear  again  in  these  pages. 

Governmental  officials  were  necessarily  frequent  visi- 
tors. Whenever  Robert  Morris  came  to  Princeton  he  was 
urged  by  Washington  to  make  his  headquarters  at  Rocky 
Hill,  with  invitations  of  which  the  following  paragraph 
from  a  letter  of  September  3d  may  be  taken  as  a  type : 

"  Mrs.  Washington  and  myself  heard  with  much  pleas- 
ure from  Major  Jackson,  that  you  &  Mrs.  Morris  had  in 
contemplation  a  visit  to  Prince  Town,  &  we  join  very 
sincerely  in  offering  you  a  Bed  at  our  Quarters.  The 
inconvenience  of  accepting  it,  can  only  be  to  yourselves, 
as  the  room  is  not  so  commodious  as  we  could  wish ;  but, 
in  the  crowded  situation  of  this  place  is  equal  perhaps  to 
any  you  could  get,  &  none  would  be  happier  in  having 
you  under  their  roof."^ 

'Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  78,  Vol.  6,  p,  199. 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  P.,  Vol.  3.  The  acceptance  of  this  invitation  is  dated 
the  5th  and  is  in  Letters  to  Washington,  64,  folio  143.     When  Washington  heard 


Il8  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT    PRINCETON 

Of  the  unofficial  side  of  Congressional  life  not  much  has 
been  preserved  in  the  documents,  and  a  contemporary 
gossipy  epistle  from  Judge  Benjamin  Huntington  to  his 
wife  is  therefore  all  the  more  welcome.  Its  realism,  its 
humor  and  its  raciness  are  sufficient  excuse  for  its  reprint 
here,'  nor  is  its  value  lessened  because  it  gives  us  in  pass- 
ing a  hint  of  local  fashions  in  feminine  dress. 

Princeton  Septr  8th  1783 
Dear  Mrs  Huntington 

Since  my  last  Nothing  Material  has  hapned  a  Dutch 
Minister  is  Dayly  Expected  to  arrive  in  Philadelphia  and 
it  was  Rumoured  that  Some  of  his  furniture  was  arrived 
last  Week  This  must  be  a  Wonderful  great  Affair  and 
what  Congress  can  Do  with  this  Great  Personage  in 
Princeton  is  more  than  Humane  Wisdom  can  Divise  for 
there  are  not  Buildings  Sufficient  to  House  more  Dons 
nor  Indeed  as  many  as  are  Already  here  Some  are  under 
Necessity  to  Go  to  Philadelphia  once  or  Twice  a  fort- 
night to  Breath  in  Polite  Air  The  Country  so  badly 
agrees  with  those  Sublime  &  Delicate  Constitutions  that 
it  is  to  be  feared  that  many  of  them  will  Contract  a 
Rusticity  that  Can  never  be  wholly  Purged  off  We  have 
nothing  here  but  the  Necessaries  and  Comforts  of  Life 
and  who  can  live  so?     The  Agreeables  of  the  City  can- 

Id  October  that  Morris  and  his  wife  were  coming  to  the  audience  given  by  Con- 
gress to  Van  Berckel,  the  Dutch  Minister,  he  wrote  "I  pray  you  to  be  assured 
that  you  can  make  no  Family  more  happy,  than  you  would  do  mine,  by  lodging 
under  their  roof —  and  that  nothing  in  my  power  shall  be  wanting,  to  make  M'» 
Morris's  time  pass  as  agreeably  as  possible,  in  a  Batchelor's  Hall."  Mrs.  Wash- 
ington had  left  Princeton  in  the  first  week  of  October.  She  had  derived  no  bene- 
fit from  her  residence  in  New  Jersey  ;  indeed,  Washington  says  that  she  and 
most  of  his  body  guard  and  servants  had  been  very  unwell  ever  since  coming  to 
Rocky  Hill.  Alexander  Garden  in  his  "  Anecdotes  "  tells  how  Washington,  seeing 
Mrs.  Washington  off  on  her  journey  to  Mount  Vernon,  accompanied  her  as  far  as 
Trenton  and  there  met  General  Nathanael  Greene  returning  from  his  Southern 
campaign.  General  Greene  reported  to  Congress  at  Princeton  on  October  7th  that 
he  had  just  arrived.  Garden  then  proceeds  to  describe  for  his  readers  an  interesting 
dinner  at  President  Boudinot's  which  Washington  and  Greene  attended  the  day  of 
the  latter' s  arrival  at  Princeton. 

^Huntington  letters,  ed.  by  W.  D.  McCracken,  N.  Y.,  1897,  p.  57. 


PRINCETON   IN    1783  1X9 

not  be  had  in  the  Country  I  expect  no  Business  of  Im- 
portance will  be  Done  untill  Congress  Returns  to  that 
Sweet  Paridice  from  which  they  hastily  took  Flight  in 
June  last  Since  which  Time  an  Awkward  Rustication 
has  been  their  Painful  Situation  on  an  Eminence  in  the 
Country  where  they  have  no  Mosquitoes  to  Serenade 
them  in  bed  and  in  the  Day  they  have  a  Prospect  of  no 
more  than  30  or  40  Miles  to  the  High  Lands  on  the  Sea 
Coast  nor  can  they  hear  the  musick  of  Carts  and  Waggons 
on  the  Pavements  in  the  City  nor  See  the  motly  Crowd 
of  Beings  in  those  Streets.  This  must  be  Truely  Distres- 
sing to  Gentlemen  of  Taste  —  The  Ladies  make  less  Com- 
plaint than  the  Gentlemen  and  the  Gentlemen  who  have 
their  Ladies  here  seem  in  some  degree  Contented.  The 
President  of  Congress  who  Belongs  in  the  Jersy  is  obliged 
to  leave  his  Lady  in  Philadelphia  to  keep  Possession  but 
has  the  Promise  of  a  very  Genteel  House  here  if  he  will 
take  it  but  not  Knowing  whether  Congress  will  abide  in 
Princetown  or  not,  he  is  at  the  utmost  Loss  what  to  Do, 
whether  it  is  best  for  him  and  his  wife  to  live  together 
as  Peasants  do  in  the  Country  or  for  her  to  be  at  Philada 
as  the  Ladies  do,  and  for  him  to  Live  as  a  Gentleman 
Doing  Business  in  the  Country  in  hopes  of  Retiring  to 
the  Pleasures  and  amusements  of  the  City  when  Business 
is  over  this  Matter  Requiring  Great  Deliberation  Cannot 
(like  the  Emigration  of  Congress  in  June  last)  be  hastily 
Determined  Thus  you  See  we  Great  Folks  are  not 
without  Trouble.  I  hope  to  become  a  small  man  in  a 
few  Weeks  and  Retire  from  the  Embarrassments  of  Dig- 
nity to  the  Plain  &  Peaceful  Possessions  of  a  Private  Life 
not  Desiring  to  Live  without  Business  but  to  do  useful 
Business  without  ye  Pangs  &  Vanity  of  this  Wicked 
World 

All  I  have  Wrote  is  not  what  I  Designed  when  I  began 
&  Consequently  have  not  yet  advanced  one  Step  toward 
any  Design  and  having  nothing  to  Write  About  am  at  a 
Great  Loss  what  to  Write  because  it  Requires  more 
Strength  of  Genius  to  Build  on  Hansom  Fabrick  without 
Materials  than  with  —  I  am  Spending  Money  very  fast 
but  not  so  fast  as  I  Could  with  the  Same  Degree  of 
Industery  in  Philadelphia  &  it  is  a  Mortifying  Consider- 


I20  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

ation  that  my  Cash  is  Spent  for  no  better  Purposes,  but 
the  Great  and  General  Concerns  of  a  Nation  must  (be) 
attended  to  and  the  Fashions  &  Customs  of  the  World 
are  Such  as  Require  it  to  be  Done  with  Expence  —  A 
new  Fashion  is  among  the  Ladies  here  which  is  the  Same 
as  at  Philada  The  Roll  is  much  less  than  formerly  and 
is  Raised  to  a  peak  on  their  Forehead  Frowzled  and 
Powdered  and  they  wear  Men's  Beaver  Hats  with  a 
Large  Tye  of  Gauze  like  a  Sash  or  Mourning  Wead  about 
the  Crown  &  Decorated  with  Feathers  &  Plumes  on  the 
Top  which  makes  a  very  Daring  Appearance  The  Brim 
of  the  Hat  is  Loped  before  about  as  low  as  their  Eyes 
and  is  a  Kind  of  Riding  Hat  They  Walk  Abroad  and 
Sit  in  Church  in  the  Same.  Some  have  them  in  the 
Same  Figure  made  of  Paper  and  Covered  with  Silk  with 
Deep  Crowns  as  a  Beaver  Hat  but  as  this  is  much  out  of 
the  Line  of  Business  I  was  sent  here  to  do  I  have  not 
been  very  Particular  in  the  Subject  I  might  also  men- 
tion the  Waistcoat  and  Long  Sleaves  much  like  the  Rid- 
ing habits  our  Ladies  wore  Twenty  five  years  ago  but  as 
they  Differ  some  from  them  &  having  no  Right  to  be 
very  Much  in  Observation  upon  the  Ladies  I  am  not  able 
to  say  Much  on  the  Subject 

Give  my  love  in  Particular  to  Every  Child  in  our  Family 
&  Regards  to  Friends  &  Neighbors 
I  am  Dear  Spouse 

your  Most  Affectionate 

Benj  Huntington 
Mrs  Anne  Huntington 

From  advertisements  in  contemporary  newspapers  and 
from  the  daily  accounts  of  President  Elias  Boudinot  and 
the  receipt  book  wherein  Col.  George  Morgan  recorded 
the  payments  he  made,  it  is  possible  to  get  some  idea  of 
economic  conditions  prevailing  at  Princeton  during  the 
summer  of  1783.  The  leading  general  merchant  in  the 
place  was  Thomas  Stockton,  and  it  is  from  the  bills  which 
he  sent  to  Mr.  Boudinot  that  we  get  most  of  our  infor- 
mation of  the  contemporary  cost  of  living.  At  Enos 
Kelsey's  could  be  procured  the  latest  European  and  West 


PRINCETON   IN    1 783  121 

Indian  fancy  goods  and  haberdashery ;  ^  and  when  one 
stepped  into  John  Harrison's  to  leave  a  letter  for  the  post- 
rider  to  carry  to  New  York  or  Philadelphia  a  choice  line 
of  American  and  foreign  cloths,  silks,  velvets  and  cali- 
mancoes  were  awaiting  inspection,^  for,  besides  being 
postmaster,  Mr.  Harrison  was  a  dealer  in  clothing  ma- 
terials. The  harness  maker  of  the  village  was  Noah 
Morford.  He  charged  Colonel  Morgan  four  pounds 
seventeen  shillings  and  sixpence  for  a  saddle  with  «•  Cir- 
cingle,  etc.,"  and  two  shillings  for  a  pair  of  bridle  reins. 
Stephen  Morford,  his  kinsman,  a  major  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary war,  had  laid  aside  the  sword  to  take  up  the 
scales  in  a  grocery  store.  The  village  shoemaker  was 
John  Huff  to  whom  one  day  that  summer  Colonel 
Morgan  supplied  the  leather  for  6  pairs  of  shoes  and 
recorded  payment  for  the  work  done  as  follows : ' 

2  pair  for  self  at  4/- 
2  pair  for  Servant  Maid  4/- 
One  pair  for  Nancy  Morgan  3/6 
I  pair  for  Negro  Boy  Peter  3/- 

Daniel  Van  Voorhis,  a  Philadelphia  goldsmith,  had 
come  to  Princeton  that  spring  and  had  opened  a  store  a 
short  distance  east  of  the  college,  and  was  carrying  on 
his  business  in  all  its  branches.  In  the  New  Jersey  Gazette  * 
his  advertisement  informs  the  public  that  his  work  is 
done  with  dispatch  and  in  the  neatest  manner,  the  newest 
fashions  and  on  the  most  reasonable  terms,  inasmuch  as 
he  is  able  to  execute  orders  at  a  lower  price  at  Princeton 
than  it  could  be  done  at  Philadelphia.  At  his  store  were 
to  be  found  the  largest  and  latest  variety  of  gold  and  sil- 

"^ New  Jersey  Gazette,  December  loth,  1782.  Kelsey  had  been  a  major  in  the 
army,  then  deputy  quartermaster  and  deputy  commissary, 

^ New  Jersey  Gazette,  February  5th,  1783. 

'Col.  Morgan's  Receipt  Book,  Library  of  Princeton  University.  A  shilling 
was  worth  very  nearly  18  cents  of  our  money. 

*  February  5th,  1783. 


122  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

ver  knee  or  shoe  buckles ;  his  scissor-chains  were  of  the 
newest  patterns,  his  gold  beads  and  chains,  his  spoons 
and  punch-strainers  and  his  soup  ladles  were  all  above 
reproach.  The  Harneds,  William  and  Josiah,  were  the 
tailors  whose  names  most  frequently  appear  in  Colonel 
Morgan's  receipt  book  that  summer,  although  one  Jared 
Sexton  made  for  twenty-six  shillings  a  suit  of  clothes  for 
Thomas  Hutchins,  an  undergraduate  living  with  the 
Colonel,  and  for  fifteen  shillings  and  fourpence  turned  a 
coat  and  trimmings  for  George  White-Eyes,  one  of  the 
three  Delaware  Indian  youths  being  educated  at  Princeton 
by  the  government  under  Colonel  Morgan's  guardianship. 
From  the  same  source  we  learn  that  John  Runyan  sheared 
the  Colonel's  sheep  at  three  pence  a  head,  while  James 
Finley  did  the  weaving  and  Francis  Gasper  charged  for 

fulling  &  raising  26  yds  blanketing  at  7"^  15^0 

fulling,  dying  &  raising  8  Y**'  Cloth  @  is^  10  "o 

For  a  new  building  which  Colonel  Morgan  was  erecting 
a  carpenter  named  Philip  Hartman  supplied  one  hundred 
and  ten  sash  lights  at  seven  pence  each ;  and  when 
the  advent  of  summer  boarders  compelled  the  Colonel 
to  increase  his  sleeping  accommodations  Christopher 
Doughty  made  two  bedsteads  for  him  at  six  shillings 
apiece.  For  general  work  around  the  farm  at '  *  Prospect " 
John  Woodman  received  eight  dollars,  or  one  pound,  two 
shillings  and  six  pence  per  month  of  twenty-six  working 
days  with  extras  for  special  jobs. 

The  expenses  of  the  President's  Household  were  not 
lessened  by  the  change  of  residence  from  Philadelphia  to 
Princeton.  During  the  last  days  of  June  and  the  whole 
of  July  and  August  two  Households  were  maintained ; 
and  toward  the  end  of  the  summer  when  the  Philadel- 
phia establishment  was  virtually  closed,  the  increased  de- 
mands on  presidential  hospitality  at  Princeton  effectively 
prevented  any  decrease  in  expenses. 


PRINCETON    IN    1 783  I23 

It  cost  President  Boudinot  ;^5o  to  move  to  Princeton, 
but  this  amount  undoubtedly  included  the  cartage  of  the 
six  wagon  loads  of  documents  that  accompanied  Congress 
to  its  new  home.  It  did  not  however  include  the  expenses 
of  the  overworked  clerks  of  Congress  who  spent  three 
days  attending  to  the  transportation  ;  they  memorialized 
their  superiors  later  in  the  autumn  for  reimbursement. 
The  transportation  item  ran  the  total  expenditure  of  the 
Philadelphia  Household  for  June,  1783,  up  to  ^^152  us. 
II d.  In  July  this  total  was  only  £48  17s.  6d.,  while  in 
August  it  fell  tO;^28  i6s.  8d.  In  March,  April  and  May 
the  totals  had  been  £206,  £igi,  ;^i95  respectively.  The 
expenses  of  the  Princeton  Household  alone  concern  us 
here,  and  from  the  sheets  which  Mr.  Boudinot  endorsed 
as  "  Rough  copies  of  Tho'  Stockton's  Ace"  "  is  obtainable 
the  itemized  cost  of  food  supplies  for  June,  July  and  four 
days  of  August.'  Elsewhere  among  the  same  papers  are 
summarized  Mr.  Stockton's  bills  for  the  rest  of  August, 
all  of  September  and  eleven  days  of  October.  For  the 
month  August  3d  to  September  2d  his  bill  was  £4^  6s. 
lod.,  for  September  3d  to  October  4th  £46  i8s.  5d., 
and  for  October  5th  to  October  nth,  when  the  account 
closes,  it  amounted  to  ;/6^2i  9s.  2d.  But  as  Stockton's  ac- 
count includes  neither  rental,  service  nor  incidentals  the 
total  expense  was  probably  not  less  than  it  had  been  at 
Philadelphia  with  one  household.  For  September, 
October  and  the  first  ten  days  of  November,  z.  e.,  for  the 
period  when  Washington  and  other  visitors,  as  well  as 
the  President's  entire  family,  were  at  Princeton,  and  in- 
cluding the  entertainment  of  the  Dutch  Minister  at  the 
President's  house  in  Philadelphia,  and  the  five  hilarious 
days  of  His  Excellency's  stay  in  Princeton,  the  Princeton 
and  Philadelphia  accounts,  excepting  Mr,  Stockton's 
statement  above  mentioned,  seem  to  have  been  combined, 

^  See  Appendix  I. 


124  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS   AT  PRINCETON 

and  the  entire  expenditure  for  that  period,  ending  No- 
vember loth,  when  Mr.  Boudinot's  account  with  the 
steward  of  the  President's  Household  was  brought  to  a 
close,  amounted  to  ^^^489  17s.  6d.,  or  roughly  ^210  per 
month. 

If  it  had  not  been  for  the  increase  of  social  entertain- 
ment which  went  far  to  make  village  life  bearable  to  the 
oppidans  of  Congress,  the  cost  of  living  at  Princeton 
would  probably  have  been  lessened.  For,  examining  the 
President's  accounts  more  closely  we  find  that  the  veal 
which  Mrs.  Boudinot  ate  in  Philadelphia  cost  eight  pence 
per  pound  while  the  veal  her  husband  bought  in  Prince- 
ton on  the  same  date  cost  half  that  price.  Beef  bought 
by  Mrs.  Boudinot  in  July  cost  ten  to  fourteen  pence  a 
pound  while  the  beef  the  President  of  Congress  served 
to  his  guests  at  the  banquet  on  the  Fourth  was  charged 
at  eight  pence.  At  Princeton  eggs  were  a  shilling  a 
score,  while  at  Philadelphia  they  were  a  penny  each. 
The  President's  butter  cost  him  a  shilling  a  pound  while 
his  wife  at  Philadelphia  had  to  pay  half  a  crown  for  the 
same  quantity.  At  Princeton  a  side  of  lamb  was  worth 
seven  shillings,  a  tongue  two ;  chickens  were  nine  pence 
apiece ;  lump  sugar  cost  a  shilling  and  three  pence  a 
pound.  For  six  shillings  one  could  buy  a  bushel  of  beans 
and  for  three  or  four  shillings  a  peck  of  peas.  Limes 
were  in  great  demand  at  the  President's  table  and  he  paid 
fifteen  shillings  a  hundred  for  them,  while  the  pineapples 
he  had  occasion  to  use  cost  him  two  shillings  and  six 
pence  each.  The  wine  he  usually  drank  was  priced  at 
eight  shillings  per  gallon.  A  bushel  of  potatoes  brought 
twenty-four  shillings,  a  bushel  of  beets  fifteen ;  cucum- 
bers were  three  pence  each  and  onions  four  pence  half- 
penny a  bunch.  Seven  ducks  cost  five  shillings  and  ten 
pence,  or  ten  pence  each  ;  fish  was  priced  at  five  shillings 
a  pound  and  clams  at  eighteen  pence  a  hundred.     Tal- 


PRINCETON    IN    1 783  12$ 

low  for  the  candles  in  his  chandeliers  was  bought  at  the 
rate  of  eighteen  pence  a  pound,  boiling  soap  two  pence 
more.  A  scrubbing  brush  was  valued  at  three  shillings 
and  six  pence,  a  sweeping  brush  at  four  and  a  half  and  a 
"  large  scrubbing  brush  "  at  five.  The  clay  pipes  smoked 
by  Mr.  Boudinot  cost  two  pence  apiece  while  the  cigars 
he  offered  to  his  friends  were  procurable  at  less  than 
one  penny  each.  Flour  seems  to  have  been  cheaper 
at  Philadelphia  than  at  Princeton  for  Mr.  Boudinot 
bought  his  chief  supply  there.  What  he  purchased  in 
the  village  cost  him  twenty-three  shillings  a  hundred- 
weight. He  paid  five  pounds  a  ton  for  the  hay  he  gave 
his  private  horses ;  what  he  paid  for  the  forty  bushels  of 
oats  he  fed  them  is  not  recorded. 

Leaving  these  basal  concepts  of  domestic  living,  let 
us  go  higher  in  the  social  structure.  It  was  in  the 
nature  of  things  the  country  over,  at  this  period,  that 
the  taverns  should  be  the  centers  of  daily  life,  and  the 
transient  conditions  prevailing  in  Princeton  during  the 
summer  of  1783  made  this  general  fact  locally  only  more 
true.  Twenty  years  before,  the  King's  highway  be- 
tween Philadelphia  and  New  York  was  admittedly  "one 
of  the  most  public  roads  in  the  country " ;'  and,  as 
the  seat  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  was  the  halfway 
stop  for  every  stage-line  on  that  thoroughfare,  it  natur- 
ally resulted  that  there  were  no  better  known  taverns  on 
the  road  than  those  at  Princeton.  The  sign  of  "New 
Jersey  College  "  had  not  swung  to  every  passing  breeze 
for  over  sixteen  years  without  acquiring  more  than  a  local 
reputation.*  Under  the  cheery  management  of  Christo- 
pher Beekman  this  tavern  had  become  probably  the  most 

1  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  December  15th,  1763, 

*  See  advertisement  of  William  Hick  in  Pennsylvania  Chronicle,  August  lOth, 
1767,  that  he  has  taken  the  tavern  of  Princeton  "  nearly  opposite  to,  and  at  the 
sign  of,  the  New  Jersey  College."     It  is  now  the  Nassau  Inn. 


126  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

popular  resort  in  Princeton.  It  was  here  that  the  Fourth 
of  July  was  usually  kept  in  approved  and  bibulous  man- 
ner ;  ^  here  the  all-day  celebration  of  Cornwallis*  surrender 
had  taken  place  on  October  22d,  1781;^  and  here  the 
local  Revolutionary  patriots  had  been  wont  to  meet  in 
committee.^  Colonel  Jacob  Hyer's  tavern  "  Hudibras 
Inn  "  on  the  south  side  of  the  street  was  as  well  known 
and  perhaps  older.  Colonel  Hyer  had  long  been  a  resi- 
dent of  Princeton.  Before  1768  he  had  kept  the  "  King's 
Arm  Tavern  "  and  in  that  year  had  moved  into  the  "com- 
modious Inn  —  long  known  by  the  name  of  Hudibras."* 
During  the  war  he  had  been  a  quartermaster  at  Princeton, 
then  a  lieutenant  colonel  and  finally  colonel  of  the  Third 
Middlesex  Militia.  John  Adams  had  spent  a  Sunday  at 
his  tavern  in  1774'  and  the  court  martial  of  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Fisher  took  place  in  his  main  room.®  Under  the 
Sign  of  the  College  and  also  at  Hudibras  Inn  had  occurred 
on  April  19th,  1783,  the  celebration  of  the  peace  pre- 
liminaries.^ A  third  tavern  was  managed  by  Jacob  Ber- 
gen who  had  a  contract  with  one  of  the  stage-coach  lines 
and  whose  establishment  was  nearly  opposite  the  college. 
The  name  of  his  tavern  has  not  come  down  to  us ;  it  is 
generally  referred  to  as  "  Jacob  Bergen's."^ 

The  scene  on  the  main  street  was  ever  changing.  On 
Wednesday  and  Friday  mornings  before  the  sun  was 
fairly  up  things  were  astir  at  Bergen's  tavern,  and  pas- 

1  See  New  Jersey  Gazette,  July  llth,  1 78 1. 

*See  New  Jersey  Gazette,  October  31st,  1 781. 

'  See  New  Jersey  Gazette,  August  7th,  1782. 

^  New  York  Gazette,  June  20th,  1768.  The  issue  for  May  1 6th,  1765,  adver- 
tises the  sale  by  Geo.  Campbell  of  his  "noted  and  well  accustomed  tavern  the 
Hudebras  at  Prince-Town." 

*See  his  Life  and  Works,  Vol.  2,  p,  355. 

^  New  Jersey  Gazette,  March  28th,  178 1. 

''New  Jersey  Gazette,  April  23d,  1783. 

^E.  g.,  New  Jersey  Gazette,  November  lOth,  1779,  notice  of  a  meeting  at  this 
tavern  relative  to  local  quartermaster.  The  building  has  preserved  its  original 
external  appearance  but  it  is  now  occupied  by  a  store. 


PRINCETON    IN    1783  I27 

sengers  for  Elizabeth  and  Philadelphia  were  roused  to 
take  their  seats  in  the  "New  Waggons"  run  by  Aaron 
Longstreet  and  Joseph  Smith  representing  the  Philadel- 
phia end,  John  Nicholson  and  a  Mr.  Hudson  managing 
in  Princeton.^  Those  going  east  got  breakfast  at  the 
"Indian  Queen"  in  New  Brunswick,  dined  at  Elizabeth 
and  so  to  New  York  that  evening,  ' '  boats  being  always 
in  readiness."  Those  going  west  breakfasted  at  the 
"French  Arms,"  Trenton,  another  ordinary  owned  by 
Bergen,  dined  at  the  "  Cross  Keys,"  Bristol,  and  alighted 
at  the  "Indian  King  "on  Market  Street,  Philadelphia, 
late  in  the  afternoon.  On  Tuesdays  and  Fridays  as  the 
eight  o'clock  breakfast  bell  was  ringing  in  the  college 
belfry  —  the  undergraduates  had  already  been  to  prayers 
and  had  indulged  in  an  hour's  study  besides'  —  Johnson 
and  Drake's  coach  which  had  left  Elizabeth  the  afternoon 
before  and  had  spent  the  night  at  New  Brunswick  would 

—  provided  the  roads  had  been  in  good  condition  —  come 
whirling  up  to  Bergen's  with  its  hungry,  sleepy  load. 
The  through  trip  on  this  coach  cost  each  passenger  forty 
shillings  in  gold  or  silver.  After  they  had  eaten  break- 
fast and  had  disappeared  down  the  turnpike  to  Trenton, 

^Pennsylvania  Gazette,  June  llth,  1783.  The  price  per  passenger  or  for  each 
150  lbs.  of  freight  or  baggage  was  $2  to  Princeton  either  way. 

*  We  get  a  glimpse  of  Princeton  undergraduate  life  at  this  period  from  a  letter 
of  Samuel  Beach,  a  member  of  the  class  of  1783.  His  letter  was  written  in  the 
following  January  when  he  had  become  a  tutor. 

"  I  rise  in  the  morning  at  5  or  at  half  after  5  o'clock  and  attend  prayers  in  the 
hall.  From  that  time  until  8,  I  study  to  prepare  for  having  a  recitation.  At  8 
we  breakfast,  and  from  8  till  9  some  walk  and  idle  about,  but  I  generally  sit  down 
to  study.  At  9  o'clock  I  attend  the  recitation  of  the  Junior  class  which  generally 
employs  me  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  sometimes  two  hours.  From  eleven  till  one, 
I  am  preparing  to  hear  the  afternoon  recitation.  At  one  o'clock  we  dine,  and 
after  dinner  we  generally  walk  and  divert  ourselves  untill  2.  Then  I  attend  the 
recitation  of  the  Sophomore  class  untill  4  but  this  only  every  other  day.  After 
which  I  study  untill  5  —  then  go  to  prayers.  After  prayers  we  divert  ourselves 
according  to  our  several  inclinations  until  6  o'clock  —  We  sup  at  six.  — After  six, 
all  must  be  in  their  rooms  at  their  studies  —  I  go  to  bed  at  11,  sometimes  at  twelve. 

—  Besides  this  I  have  to  visit  all  the  rooms  in  my  entry  three  times  a  day,  that  is 
in  the  forenoon  afternoon  and  in  the  evening  —  and  likewise  hear  a  private  recita- 
tion. Thus  almost  or  indeed  I  may  say  quite  all  my  time  is  employed."  (Prince- 
ton Collection,  Library  of  Princeton  University. ) 


128  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

their  next  stop,  the  street  became  busy  with  village 
housewives  striking  bargains  with  noisy  hucksters  who 
sold  the  fresh  fish  and  the  fruit  that  tickled  Congressional 
palates  and  made  undergraduate  mouths  water. 

At  noon  a  bustle  was  occasioned  by  the  arrival  of 
coaches  from  east  and  west.  From  Philadelphia  on  Tues- 
days and  Fridays  came  Johnson  and  Drake's  conveyances. 
On  Tuesdays  and  Thursdays  from  Elizabeth  came  Charles 
Bessonnett  and  Gershon  Johnston's  popular  "  New  York 
Flying  Machine,"  while  from  the  opposite  direction  ap 
peared  its  mate  which  had  left  the  "  Bunch  of  Grapes  " 
on  Third  Street  between  Market  and  Arch  in  Philadel- 
phia at  4  a.  m.^  This  company  boasted  that  it  not  only 
made  the  distance  between  Elizabeth  and  Philadelphia  in 
one  day,  but  by  the  admirable  connections  enjoyed  with 
other  lines  rendered  it  now  possible  for  a  traveller  to 
make  the  trip  from  Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  to  Alexandria,  Va., 
in  only  four  days,  a  distance  of  240  miles.  Ichabod 
Grumman,  Jr.  and  John  Mercereau  owned  a  line  that 
also  made  the  Elizabeth-Philadelphia  trip  in  one  day. 
Their  coaches  ran  Mondays,  Wednesdays  and  Fridays, 
and  met  to  exchange  passengers  at  Princeton,  where 
dinner  was  also  taken.  A  cheaper  vehicle  made  the  same 
trip  Tuesdays  and  Thursdays.  On  Mondays,  Wednes- 
days and  Fridays  the  trip  was  made  by  a  "Waggon" 
run  by  Bessonnett.'^  The  meeting  of  these  rival  vehicles 
usually  happened  about  the  Congressional  dinner  hour, 

^Pennsylvania   Gazette,  June  1 8th,  1783. 

*  The  price  for  the  through  trip  in  the  coaches  was  thirty-five  shillings  or  six 
dollars  an  inside  seat,  and  four  for  an  outside.  In  Bessonnett's  Waggon  the  price 
was  one  guinea  a  seat.  Each  passenger  was  allowed  14  pounds  of  baggage  under 
his  seat ;  but  every  150  pounds  of  extra  baggage  was  charged  at  one  guinea  more 
and  fractions  proportionately.  When  Miss  Mary  Boudinot,  daughter  of  the  presi- 
dent, went  to  Philadelphia  on  September  8th  and  returned  on  the  19th  she  occu- 
pied an  inside  seat  for  which  she  paid  12  shillings  and  6  pence  each  way.  The 
fare  from  Princeton  to  New  York  for  an  inside  seat  must  therefore  have  been  22 
shillings  and  6  pence. 


PRINCETON   IN    1 783  1 29 

and  made  the  village  street  a  lively  thoroughfare 
for  the  few  minutes  preceding  the  welcome  ringing  of 
dinner  bell.  A  little  later,  when  the  meal  was  over, 
when  the  last  tankard  had  been  drained,  the  last  piece  of 
news  told  and  the  refreshed  passengers  had  exchanged 
coaches  and  gone  their  respective  ways,  and  Congress- 
men had  turned  with  reluctant  feet  back  to  Nassau  Hall, 
there  fell  over  the  village  the  slumberous  quietude  of  the 
long  summer  afternoon,  only  to  be  broken  by  the  clatter 
of  hoofs  as  some  distinguished  soldier  with  his  aide  rode 
up  to  the  "  Sign  of  the  College  "  and  tossing  his  reins  to 
the  beaming  Christopher  called  for  a  flagon  of  ale  before 
he  went  on  to  Rocky  Hill  to  see  Washington  or  strode 
across  the  street  to  look  up  President  Boudinot  in  Nassau 
Hall. 

At  sundown  on  Tuesdays  and  Thursdays  the  passen- 
gers of  Aaron  Longstreet's  "  New  Waggon  "  running  be- 
tween Philadelphia  and  Elizabeth,  arrived  for  supper  and 
a  night's  lodging^  and  brought  their  share  of  fresh  news 
for  the  evening's  conversation. 

Once  a  week  gaiety  of  another  sort  was  added  to  local 
life  by  a  French  dancing  master  named  D'Orssi^re  who 
came  from  Philadelphia  to  hold  a  class  in  one  of  the  tav- 
erns. He  advertised  that  while  he  taught  "  all  sorts  of 
Dances  the  most  in  Fashion  "  he  would  instruct  his  pupils 
chiefly  in  "the  graces  and  manners."^  The  undergrad- 
uates of  the  college  seized  the  opportunity  to  become 
better  acquainted  with  the  village  belles,  and  presum- 
ably enjoyed  themselves  hugely  until  the  trustees  passed 
a  resolution  forbidding  their  attendance.' 

^Pennsylvania  Gazette,  June  nth,  1783. 

^  New  Jersey  Gazette,  March  1 2th,  1783. 

'  "  It  being  represented,  that  permitting  the  students  to  attend  a  dancing  school 
in  the  town  is  useless  to  them  in  point  of  manners,  they  being  generally  past 
that  period  of  youth  in  which  the  manners  are  formed,  &  it  being  represented 
that  their  attendance  in  such  school  involves  them  immediately,  or  by  consequence 


130  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

The  members  of  Congress  saw  Princeton  society  at 
private  dinners  and  snug  little  wine  parties,  and  it  was 
then  that  the  courtly  ladies  of  the  day  shone  in  their  bro- 
caded glory.  So  grave  and  reverend  a  senior  as  Oliver 
Ellsworth  carried  away  recollections  that  cropped  out, 
some  weeks  after  he  had  left  Congress,  in  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Holten.  "  Pray  tell  me  "  says  he,  "  what  you  are  about 
in  Congress  .  .  .  also  how  you  come  on  with  the  Prince- 
ton Girls,  not  to  say  anything  of  the  Married  Women  "  — 
and  he  asks  that  his  best  respects  be  given  to  "  Mr.  Van 
Voorhis  &  Lady  &  Miss  Kitty  —  &  our  good  brother 
Geary  &  Messrs  Ellery  &  Hoel  —  &  all  other  Conquering 
Friends."^ 

For  those  who,  like  Madison,  cared  less  for  the  pleas- 
ures of  conviviality  and  social  life  it  was  but  a  few  minutes 
ride  out  to  "  Tusculum,"  a  mile  away,  where  hearty  wel- 
come and  sober  conversation  were  always  to  be  found  with 
Dr.  John  Witherspoon ;  and  it  can  be  no  venturesome  guess 
to  say  that  the  young  Virginian  and  his  more  thoughtful 
colleagues  spent  many  an  evening  on  the  Tusculum  porch 
looking  across  the  valley  at  the  lights  of  the  village  with 
the  college  belfry  rising  over  the  trees,  while  in  his  deep 
voice  and  blunt  manner  the  Doctor  discoursed  on  the  com- 
plications and  decadence  of  present  politics,  and  dis- 
cussed plans  for  the  future. 

Washington  had  not  been  long  at  Rocky  Hill  before  he 
discovered  that  an  expert  cook  was  an  absolute  necessity, 
and  he  requested  Daniel  Parker  of  New  York  to  get  Mr. 
Fraunces,  the  well-known  tavern  keeper,  to  send  him  one 

in  considerable  expences,  to  the  injury  &  ill  report  of  the  college,  &  it  being  held 
in  a  tavern,  &  often  late  at  night,  circumstances  unfriendly  to  the  order  of  good 
government  of  the  institution  —  it  was  unanimously  resolved,  that  from  henceforth 
the  students  shall  not  be  permitted  to  attend  a  dancing  school,  during  the  sessions 
of  the  college,  under  any  pretense  whatever. ' '  ( Minutes  of  Trustees,  September 
26th,  1783.) 

1  Emmet  Collection,  Lenox  Library,  No.  601. 


PRINCETON   IN    1 783  I3I 

immediately  —  Mrs.  Thompson,  his  former  housekeeper, 
could  assist  in  the  selection  —  he  wanted  a  person  who 
had  understanding  in  the  matter,  a  German  preferred, 
one  who  could  order  as  well  as  get  a  dinner  and  who  could 
make  dishes  and  proportion  them  properly  for  any  com- 
pany up  to  the  number  of  thirty.  If  he  could  get  such  a 
cook  well  recommended  for  honesty,  sobriety  and  good 
temper,  he  would  deem  himself  fortunate.^ 

The  Commander  in  Chief,  with  his  aides  and  trooper 
escort,  soon  became  a  familiar  figure  in  the  neighborhood. 
Picturesque  glimpses  of  him  like  that  so  enthusiastically 
recorded  by  William  Dunlap,^  the  artist,  could  not  have 
been  exceptional.  When  he  was  not  riding  for  exercise 
and  pleasure  he  was  coming  in  to  Princeton  to  attend 
some  consultation  such  as  the  one  to  which  Samuel 
Huntington  invited  him  the  day  before  the  college 
Commencement. 

Princeton  Septem'  22^  1783 
Sir 

A  committee  to  whom  the  copy  of  Gen^  du  Portail's 
letter  of  the  16'''  Inst*  address^  to  your  Excellency;  is 
refer"* :  desire  conference  with  you  upon  the  Subject  of 
that  letter. 

If  you  will  please  to  name  a  time  most  agreeable  to 
you,  the  Committee  will  be  happy  to  wait  upon  you  in 
the  Congress  Chamber. 

Should  half  past  nine  in  the  morning  suit  with  your 
engagements,  give  me  leave  to  request  the  honour  of 
your  company  to  breakfast  at  my  lodgings  in  the  morn- 
ing of  the  Same  day  previous  to  the  conference. 
I  have  the  Honour 

To  be  with  perfect  respect 
your  humble ;   Serv* 

Sam^  Huntington' 
Gen^  Washington. 

1  Letters  of  Washington,  P,  Vol.  3,  September  i8th,  1783, 
'History  of  the  Arts  of  Design  in  the  United  States,  Vol,  I,  p.  252, 
^  Letters  to  Washington,  64,  p.  200, 


132  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

If  hospitality  was  lavish  at  "  Rockingham,"  and  William 
Dunlap  who  spent  some  time  at  Rocky  Hill  leads  us  to 
believe  that  it  was/  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
"  Morven "  was  equally  a  social  rendezvous.  Around 
Mrs.  Annis  Stockton,  one  of  the  most  gracious  hostesses 
in  the  State,  society  at  Princeton  centered ;  and  the  fact 
that  the  British  had  pillaged  "  Morven  "  and  slashed  the 
portrait  of  Richard  the  Signer  across  the  throat  had  only 
added  to  the  interest  of  the  mansion  and  the  honor  of  the 
family.  Mrs.  Stockton  had  long  been  a  warm  friend  of 
General  Washington,  and  her  pleasure  at  his  coming  to 
Princeton  was  expressed  in  verse,  an  accomplishment  in 
which  she  had  more  than  average  skill  and  which  she 
frequently  exhibited.  Among  Washington's  papers  there 
is  a  manuscript  ^  endorsed  in  the  General's  handwriting 

From 
M".  Stockton 
I"*  Sep.  1783. 

The  manuscript  itself  is  in  the  characteristic  script  of 
the  mistress  of  *'  Morven  "  and  begins  with  this  unsigned 
note: 

Once  more  pardon  the  Effusions  of  Gratitude  and 
Esteem,  or  Command  the  Muse  no  more  to  trouble  you, 
for  she  Can  not  be  restrain'd  Even  by  timidity. 

after  which  follow  these  verses : 

Morven  August  the  26. 

With  all  thy  Countries  Blessings  on  thy  head 
And  all  the  glory  that  Encircles  Man, 
Thy  martial  fame  to  distant  nations  spread 
And  realms  unblesst  by  freedoms  genial  plan 

1  Dunlap,  Vol.  i,  p.  254. 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  64,  p.  125.  Five  stanzas  of  the  poem  have  been  printed 
with  different  date  iu  Boudinot,  Vol.  i,  p.  29. 


PRINCETON   IN    1 783  133 


^^^1^  /'»^C^r^„^        «^^m<^^^^  e^,^ 


err 


e*oc.< 


<?: 


Mrs,  Richard  Stockton's  Verses  to  General  Washington. 

Address'd  by  Statemen  Legislatures  kings 
Rever'd  by  thousands  as  you  pass  along 
While  Every  Muse  with  ardour  spreads  her  wings 
To  greet  our  Heroe  in  immortal  Song : 

—  Say ;   can  a  female  voice  an  audience  gain  ? 
And  Stop  a  moment  thy  triumphal  Car 
And  wilt  thou  listen  to  a  peaceful  Strain? 
Unskill'd  to  paint  the  horrid  Scenes  of  war 


134  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

Tho  oft  the  muse  with  rapture  heard  thy  name 
And  placed  thee  foremost  on  the  Sacred  Scroll 
With  patriots  who  had  gain'd  Eeternal  fame 
By  wonderous  deeds  that  penetrate  the  soul 

Yet  what  is  glory  what  are  martial  deeds 
Unpurified  at  Virtues  awful  Shrine 
And  oft  remorse  a  glorious  day  Succeeds 
The  Motive  only  Stamps  the  deed  devine 

But  thy  last  legacy  renowned  Chief 
Has  deck'd  thy  brow  with  honours  more  Sublime 
Twin'd  in  thy  wreath  the  christian's  firm  belief 
And  nobly  own'd  thy  faith  to  future  time 

Thus  crown'd  return  to  Vernon's  soft  retreat 
There  with  Amanda  taste  unmixed  joy 
May  flowers  Spontaneous  rise  beneath  your  feet 
Nor  Sorrow  Ever  pour  her  hard  alloy 

May  nature  paint  those  blissful  walks  more  gay 
And  rural  graces  haunt  the  peaceful  grove 
May  angels  gaurd  you  in  your  lonely  way 
And  prompt  the  path  to  brighter  Scenes  above 

—  And  oh  if  happly  in  your  native  Shade 
One  thought  of  jersey  Enters  in  your  mind 
Forget  not  her  on  Morvens  humble  glade 
Who  feels  for  you  a  friendship  most  refin'd 

Emelia. 

These  lines,  and  the  accompanying  apologetic  letter 
which  does  not  appear  to  have  been  preserved  by  Wash- 
ington, drew  from  him  his  well-known  bantering  reply  of 
September  2d^  beginning: 

You  apply  to  me,  my  dear  Madam,  for  absolution  as 
tho'  I  was  your  father  Confessor;  and  as  tho'  you  had 
committed  a  crime,  great  in  itself,  yet  of  the  venial  class 

^  Boudinot,  Vol.  i ,  p.  30,  dates  this  letter  September  24th,  evidently  a  mis- 
print. The  authority  for  the  earlier  date  is  Washington's  autograph  draft  in  Let- 
ters of  Washington,  P,  Vol.  3,  No.  510.  Moreover  the  poem  was  not  written  on 
the  announcement  of  peace  as  Miss  Boudinot  states,  but  on  the  occasion  of  Wash- 
ington's arrival  at  Princeton. 


PRINCETON   IN    1 783  I35 

—  You  had  reason  good  —  for  I  find  myself  strangely 
disposed  to  be  a  very  indulgent  ghostly  Adviser  on  this 
occasion ;  and,  notwithstanding  '  you  are  the  most  offend- 
ing Soul  alive  ' —  (that  is,  if  it  is  a  crime  to  write  elegant 
Poetry)  yet  if  you  will  come  and  dine  with  me  on  Thurs- 
day, and  go  thro*  the  proper  course  of  penetence  which 
shall  be  prescribed,  I  will  strive  hard  to  assist  you  in  ex- 
piating these  poetical  trespasses  on  this  side  of  purgatory. 

Another  poem  ^  was  written  by  Mrs.  Stockton  the  day 
before  Commencement  and  sent  out  to  Rocky  Hill  to 
Washington,  who  endorsed  it 

From 
Mrs.  Stockton 
Poetical  Epistle 
22d  Sep.  1783. 

The  wrapper  in  which  this  "  epistle  "  was  covered  is 
addressed  by  Mrs.  Stockton,  but  the  poem  itself  is  in 
another  hand. 


Sir- 


To  Gen'  Washington,  an  Epistle  — 


When  infant  voices  lisp  thy  honord  name. 

And  every  heart  reverberates  thy  fame, 

Oh,  charge  me  not  with  Fiction  in  my  lays, 

For  heavenly  truth  stood  by  and  twin'd  the  bays. 

Then  bid  me  bind  it  on  my  heroes  brow 

And  told  me  fame  would  every  sprig  allow 

With  Joy  the  Sacred  mandate  I  obeyed, 

And  on  my  Soul  rushed  the  inchanting  maid : 

For  not  Apollo  with  his  brightest  Beam, 

Nor  deeds  which  Maro  sung  inspird  by  him, 

Could  animate  my  song  like  such  a  theme. 

But  Ah  she  kept  far  distant  from  my  view 

That  the  bright  wreath  would  be  disclaim'd  by  you, 

I  grant  that  Fiction  with  her  airy  train 

In  Ancient  times  held  a  despotic  reign, 

When  Virgil's  heroes,  death  and  ruin  hurl'd 

And  ev'ry  light  depopulates  a  world 

'  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  64,  p.  201. 


136  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

They  traced  their  lineage  from  the  blest  abodes, 

Nor  sprung  from  men  they  own'd  no  Sires  but  Gods — 

But  I  the  paths  of  Sober  reason  tread 

Have  Seen  thy  actions  in  the  balance  weigh'd 

The  universal  voice  will  join  with  me 

And  Echo  what  thy  country  owes  to  thee 

O  that  thy  genius  would  my  lays  refine. 

And  kindle  in  my  Soul  a  ray  divine 

Give  me  to  gain  the  Summit  of  the  hill, 

And  drinking  Deep  of  the  Pierian  rill 

Transmit  thy  virtues  with  the  tide  of  time, 

And  grave  thy  name  in  characters  Sublime 

Some  tuneful  Homer  shall,  in  future  days. 

Sing  thy  Exploits  in  celebrated  lays, 

While  my  Ambition  has  no  other  aim, 

Than  as  thy  friend  to  set  my  humble  name. 

Emelia. 
Morven,  22  Sepr.  1783. 

These  are  not  the  only  lines  the  mistress  of  "  Morven" 
ever  wrote  to  General  Washington,  nor  are  they  among 
the  best  examples  of  her  skill  although  they  fall  within 
our  period.  Their  stilted  couplets,  however,  accord  well 
with  the  easily  conjured  picture  of  her  stiff-laced  eigh- 
teenth century  figure  seated  at  her  high  mahogany  desk, 
as  she  wrote  to  her  dead  husband's  friend  and  sprinkled 
over  her  linen-rag  paper  the  sand  that  still  glistens  on 
the  ink. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE   summer's   debates 

The  appointment  of  a  committee  of  conference  with 
Washington  had  opened  the  way  for  some  discussion  of 
the  peace  establishment  prior  to  Washington's  arrival, 
but  nothing  had  come  of  it.  With  the  Commander  in 
Chief  safely  at  Princeton,  however,  the  promoters  of  the 
scheme  lost  no  time  in  pushing  it  to  the  front,  expecting 
that  his  influence  would  speedily  bring  about  some  defi- 
nite results.  The  day  after  Washington's  reception  by 
Congress,  Colonel  Bland,  of  Virginia,  seconded  by  Mr. 
Holten,  of  Massachusetts,  moved  that  on  the  29th  Con- 
gress resolve  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole  to  take 
into  consideration  what  powers  existed  in  Congress  under 
the  Confederation  for  the  formation  of  a  military  peace 
establishment.  Rhode  Island,  in  the  person  of  Messrs. 
Howell  and  EUery,  promptly  moved  to  amend  by  insert- 
ing the  words  "  whether  any  and  "  after  the  word  "  con- 
sideration." The  amendment  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  four 
States  to  one,  five  being  divided.  This  division  of  States 
indicates  as  clearly  as  anything  can  the  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  powers  in  question.  Mr.  Williamson, 
of  North  Carolina,  seconded  by  Mr.  Read,  of  South  Caro- 
lina, then  moved  the  postponement  of  the  main  question 
to  propose  that  on  the  29th  Congress  go  into  a  committee 
of  the  whole  "  to  consider  the  question  of  a  peace  estab- 
lishment." This  motion,  too,  was  lost,  only  six  States 
voting  in  its  favor.  New  Jersey  being  divided.  Whether 
a  vote  on  the  main  question  then  followed  cannot  be 
determined  from  the  Journal  as  there  is  no  entry  con- 
cerning the  ultimate  action.     But  it  is  certain  that  under 

137 


138  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

date  of  the  29th  there  is  no  reference  to  any  discussion 
of  the  peace  establishment.  Instead,  we  find  one  of  those 
disappointments  of  which  the  Journal  is  full,  the  sole 
entry  of  that  date  referring  to  the  ridiculously  ungermane 
matter  of  lottery  tickets  in  the  dead-letter  office. 

Washington  had  thought  that  a  few  days'  association 
with  the  members  of  Congress  would  have  acquainted 
him  with  their  views  on  the  subject,  but  at  the  end  of  his 
first  week  at  Rocky  Hill  he  admitted  to  General  Howe  that 
he  was  as  much  in  the  dark  as  ever ;  ^  and  on  September 
3d  he  told  Colonel  Pickering  that  as  yet  he  had  had  no 
conference  with  the  committee  on  the  peace  establish- 
ment.^ Shortly  after  this,  however,  he  met  the  members 
of  the  committee  and  received  for  criticism  a  copy  of 
Hamilton's  report  of  June  17th;  and  on  the  8th  of  Sep- 
tember he  sent  back  a  long  document  entitled,  ' '  Obser- 
vations consequent  of  a  Request  of  the  Committee."' 
This  valuable  contribution  to  the  literature  of  the  subject 
the  committee  presented  to  Congress  on  the  loth  with- 
out comment,  and  it  was  entered  and  read  that  day.* 
The  Journal  neither  records  this  fact  nor  contains  any 
further  entry  relating  to  the  peace  establishment  until 
late  in  October. 

Fitful  efforts  were  made  to  reach  conclusions,  and  Wash- 
ington himself  wrote  to  General  Du  Portail  on  September 
23d  asking  him  to  favor  the  committee  with  his  views  of 
what  the  artillery  and  engineering  branches  of  the  army 
should  be  in  times  of  peace,  and  the  General  responded 
a  week  later  with  a  carefully  worked  out  statement.'' 
Through   September   and   into  October   the   discussion 

^  Letters  of  Washington,  B,  1 6,  pt.  2,  No.  247,  August  31st. 
'I6id.,  No.  251.     This  was  the  committee  appointed  August  7th. 
»Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  38,  pt.  2,  p.  343. 
*/Md.,  p.  353. 

^Letters  of  Washington,  B,  16,  pt.  2,  No.  262  and  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  38,  p. 
355- 


THE   summer's   debates 


139 


lingered,  but  under  so  many  discouragements  that  even 
the  ardor  of  its  advocates  was  dampened.*      President 

t^  ,/A^0-e^^    y%Aa.irt£S^      ^:^>3C.«««^     »«-^*-*/-*<*«^     "**fc«-***-' 


^^*^  *liE$E-  <*««v^^«^^  ^^^cji^^U^. 


General  Washington  on  the  Peace  E^stablishment  (Last  Leaf). 

Boudinot  subsequently  wrote  to  the  American  Commis- 
sioners at  Paris  that  the  matter  had  occupied  the  main 

1  J.  F.  Mercer  to  Gen.  Weedon,  September  20th,  in  Balch,  Papers  Relating  to 
the  Maryland  Line,  p.  213. 


I40  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

attention  of  Congress ;  which  was  probably  the  case,  but 
it  had  occupied  attention  not  because  Congress  was  eager 
or  ready  to  settle  it,  but  simply  because  it  was  a  matter 
that  would  not  let  itself  be  ignored,  however  often  its 
determination  might  be  deferred. 

Washington  had  concluded  by  October  23d  that  there 
was  "  a  great  diversity  of  sentiment  among  the  Members 
of  Congress  respecting  a  Peace  Establishment;  and  great 
opposition  will  be  given  to  the  measure  whenever  it  is 
brought  forward.  "  ^  But  on  the  very  day  he  wrote  these 
words  the  report  of  Hamilton,  Madison,  Ellsworth,  Wil- 
son, and  Holten,  which  had  been  made  on  June  17th  and 
tabled  for  consideration  until  nine  States  should  be  rep- 
resented, and  which  he  had  himself  just  criticized  for 
the  new  committee,  was  brought  up  in  committee  of  the 
whole.  On  October  24th,  which  was  devoted  to  de- 
bate on  it,  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  Mr.  Carroll, 
reported  *  *  That  it  is  the  Opinion  of  the  Com**  that  some 
garrisons  ought  to  be  maintained  in  time  of  peace  at  the 
expence  of  the  United  States  for  their  security  and  de- 
fence, under  their  present  circumstances,"^  and  the  en- 
dorsement on  the  manuscript  records  the  fact  that  this 
postulate  met  with  only  one  dissentient  vote.  Mr.  Carroll 
further  reported  that  the  committee  desired  to  sit  again, 
and  it  was  ordered  to  do  so  on  the  twenty-fifth.  But 
there  is  no  reference  to  the  discussion  on  that  date.  On 
the  two  succeeding  days  no  quorum  was  present  and 
then  came  the  reception  to  the  Dutch  Minister  and  the 
preparations  for  leaving  Princeton.  And  thus  died,  after 
a  listless  struggle  for  life,  the  first  effort  to  organize  the 
military  establishment  of  the  United  States  in  times  of 
peace. 

Washington  was  much   disgusted,  although  not   sur- 

1  To  Gen.  Knox,  October  23d.     Letters  of  Washington,  P,  Vol,  3,  No.  526. 
*  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  38,  pt.  2,  p.  367. 


THE   summer's   debates  I4I 

prised,  for  he  had  long  ago  given  up  hope  of  any  immedi- 
ate decision.  It  had  seemed  to  him  in  September  that 
there  would  never  be  any  hope  as  long  as  Congress  re- 
mained in  Princeton,  for  he  believed  that  there  was  not 
sufficient  representation  to  discuss  the  really  "great 
national  points."  And  at  Princeton  Congress  apparently 
was  to  stay  because  of  personal  animosities,  the  southern 
members  not  being  willing  to  run  risk  of  "  being  further 
removed  from  the  Centre  of  the  Empire  "  and  their  oppo- 
nents not  being  willing  to  "  give  up  what  they  conceived 
to  be  a  point  gained  by  the  late  retreat  to  Princeton." 
So  it  looked  as  if  they  would  remain  at  Princeton  "to 
the  dissatisfaction  of  the  Majority,  and  the  great  let  to 
business,  having  none  of  the  Public  Offices  about  them 
nor  no  places  to  accomodate  them  if  they  were  brought 
up,  and  the  Members  from  this  or  some  other  causes  are 
eternally  absent."^  The  gravity  of  the  fast  approach- 
ing debate  on  federal  residence  was  daily  increasing. 

However  much  the  important  peace  establishment  was 
neglected,  it  is  certain  nevertheless  that  Washington  was 
called  on  for  advice  in  the  consideration  and  disposal  of 
many  other  matters  of  public  concern.  One  of  these  was 
the  resolution  passed  on  September  loth^  bearing  on  the 
pay  of  officers  promoted  after  the  declaration  of  peace. 
As  far  back  as  May  26th  Mr.  Dyer  of  Massachusetts  had 
moved  "  that  all  promotions  hereafter  made  in  the  Army 
of  the  United  States  shall,  in  consideration  of  the  Cessa- 
tion of  Hostilities,  be  considered  only  as  Honorary,  but 
not  entitle  those  promoted  to  any  Additional  pay  or  emolu- 
ment on  Account  thereof."'  This  had  been  referred  to 
Messrs.  Dyer,  Clark  and  Williamson,  who  reported  on 

1  Washington  to  Clinton,  September  llth,  1 783.  Letters  of  Washington,  P, 
Vol,  3,  p.  183.     Sparks,  Vol.  8,  p.  485. 

*  The  manuscript  is  dated  September  9th,  while  the  Joamal  enters  it  under  date 
of  the  loth.     Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  21,  p.  357. 

^Ibid.,  p.  359. 


142  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

June  4th  practically  in  the  language  of  the  motion.^ 
Their  report  was  referred  back  to  Major  General  Lincoln, 
Secretary  of  War,  who,  on  July  26th  addressed  this  letter 
to  President  Boudinot: 

Princeton  July  26.     1783. 
Sir, 

On  the  motion  of  M'  Dyer,  and  the  report  of  a  com- 
mittee of  Congress  on  that  motion  —  I  beg  leave  to  sub- 
mit the  following  report. 

That,  during  the  existence  of  the  present  army,  all  vacan- 
cies be  filled  up  (excepting  new  appointments  of  Ensigns) 
as  has  been  heretofore  practised.  —  But  where  rank  by 
Brevet  is  conferred  the  act  of  Congress  directing  the  ap- 
pointment should  express  that  it  is  by  Brevet  —  and  it 
may  now  be  resolved  that  in  the  future  where  commis- 
sions by  Brevet  are  issued  they  shall  not  be  considered  as 
granting,  or  entitling  to  any  pecuniary  gratuity,  or  other 
emolument  than  rank  in  the  army  of  the  United  States. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
with  perfect  respect, 
Your  excellency's 

most  obedient  Servant 

B.  Lincoln.^ 
His  Excellency 
The  President 
of  Congress. 

The  endorsement  of  the  letter  shows  that  it  was  received 
on  the  day  of  its  writing ;  but  it  was  laid  aside  until  Sep- 
tember 3d,  when  it  was  referred  to  a  fresh  committee 
consisting  of  Messrs.  McHenry,  Peters,  and  Duane.  Dr. 
McHenry  sent  the  papers  on  the  subject  to  Rocky  Hill 
for  Washington's  advice,  and  on  September  5  th  the  latter 
responded  with  a  communication  which  supported  Gen- 
eral Lincoln's  attitude,  and  suggested  that  the  Secretary 
of  War  inform  the  Paymaster- General  that  brevet  com- 
missions did  not  entitle  the  recipients  to  pay  or  emolu- 

^Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  21,  p.  361. 
i3id.,  p.  363. 


THE   summer's   debates  I43 

ments  unless  the  same  were  distinctly  expressed  in  the 
resolution  granting  the  commissions.^  This  suggestion 
the  committee  accordingly  adopted  as  its  report  on  Sep- 
tember 9th,  and  it  was  embodied  in  the  resolution  which 
was  passed  the  next  day.* 

At  about  this  juncture  Congress  received  the  report  of 
General  Howe  on  the  proceedings  of  the  court  martial 
held  at  Philadelphia  to  try  the  officers  and  privates  im- 
plicated in  the  June  mutiny. 

The  investigation  had  been  conducted  by  Howe  with 
the  utmost  dignity  and  restraint.  He  had  appreciated 
to  the  fullest  extent  the  desire  of  the  government  and  of 
Washington  not  to  stir  up  unnecessary  ill-feeling  and  yet 
not  to  let  so  serious  a  breach  of  discipline  go  unpunished. 
When  he  reported  to  President  Dickinson  on  his  arrival 
at  Philadelphia,  and  had  shown  him  his  orders,  Dickin- 
son requested  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  State,  Thomas 
McKean,  and  Justice  George  Bryan  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Pennsylvania  to  take  the  civilian  depositions 
before  the  military  trial  began.'  No  information  of  value 
was  elicited  from  that  source.  General  St.  Clair  had  in 
the  meantime  caused  the  arrest  of  the  officers  and  soldiers 
implicated  or  suspected,  and  then  General  Howe  at  once 
convened  all  the  other  officers  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line 
in  the  city  and  sought  their  cooperation  in  the  difficult 
task  before  him.  But  with  pardonable  feelings  of  delicacy 
they  begged  to  be  excused  from  service  on  the  court 
martial,  and  he  accordingly  selected  its  members  from 
the  officers  of  the  Massachusetts  Line  and  from  the  staff 
officers  who  happened  to  be  in  the  city.*  The  board  as 
finally  constituted  contained  no  officer  of  lower  rank  than 
captain.     It  was  presided  over  by  Brigadier  General  John 

•  Letters  of  Washington,  A,  Vol.  7  (unpaged). 
*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  21,  p.357. 

^Ibid.,  38,  p.  147. 

*  Capt.  John  Paul  Jones  had  been  requested  by  Robert  Morris  to  serve  on  the 
court  martial,  but  his  ill  health  was  suflScient  to  excuse  him.     (Diary,  July  II th.) 


144  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

Patterson,  and  was  held  at  Howe's  camp,  sitting  for  the 
first  time  on  July  i8th,  after  a  delay  caused  by  the  atti- 
tude of  the  Pennsylvania  officers,  the  non-arrival  of  Judge 
Advocate  Edwards,  who  did  not  report  to  General  Howe 
until  the  14th,  and  by  the  indisposition  of  Count  Kos- 
ciusko, who  was  a  member  of  the  court.  ^ 

After  a  session  of  about  three  weeks  a  verdict  of  guilty 
was  reached  in  the  case  of  all  the  men  concerned  in  the 
mutiny  itself,  and  sentence  of  death  was  passed  on  Ser- 
geants Christian  Nagle  and  John  Morrison  of  the  Third 
Pennsylvania  Infantry,  while  Gunner  Lilly  and  Drummer 
Horn  of  the  Fourth  Pennsylvania  Artillery,  Thomas 
Flowers  and  William  Carman,  privates  in  the  Third  Penn- 
sylvania Infantry,  were  sentenced  to  corporal  punish- 
ment. The  date  of  execution  was  set  for  August  226.. 
These  verdicts  General  Howe  forwarded  to  Congress  on 
the  i2th^  and  stated  that  the  trial  of  Lieutenant  Huston 
was  unfinished  while  that  of  Lieutenants  Chrystie  and 
Symonds  would  come  next.  The  last  three  had  been 
arrested  by  order  of  St.  Clair  on  suspicion  of  being  in 
collusion  with  the  mutineers.'  By  permission  of  St. 
Clair  and  the  Council  they  had,  as  will  be  remembered, 
accepted  appointments  on  a  committee  to  represent  the 
mutineers  in  conference,  and  while  on  that  committee 
they  had  refused  to  report  to  St.  Clair  the  intention  of 
their  clients.  They  were  also  blamed  for  accepting 
appointments  on  a  committee  whose  commission  from 
the  malcontents  contained  the  following  obnoxious  clause : 

You  are  to  remember  that  every  effort  in  your  power 
must  be  exerted  to  bring  about  the  speedy  &  most  ample 
justice ;  And  even  to  use  compulsive  measures  should 
they  be  found  necessary.  * 

It  may  be  here  stated  that  they  were  acquitted. 

'Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  38,  p.  10 1. 
^  Ibid.,  p.  105. 
^  Ibid.,  p.  19. 
^Ibid.,  p.  25. 


THE   summer's   debates  I45 

On  August  13th  Sergeant  Nagle  petitioned  Washington 
for  mercy,  ^  following  his  plea  on  the  15th  with  a  similar 
petition  to  President  Boudinot^.  General  Howe's  letter 
of  the  1 2th  had  been  in  the  meantime  laid  before  Con- 
gress and  had  been  sent  to  a  committee  who  on  the 
15  th  reported  a  motion  that  the  sentences  against  the 
soldiers  be  suspended  until  the  whole  proceedings  had 
been  laid  before  Congress  ten  days  for  consideration. 
This  resolution  coming  up  again  on  the  i8th  for  a 
second  reading  was  passed,  and  that  day  President 
Boudinot  wrote  '  to  Howe  enclosing  the  act,  and  the 
letter  was  acknowledged  five  days  later.*  On  the  31st 
he  wrote  '  hoping  to  forward  the  proceedings  of  the 
trial  shortly.  On  September  2d  he  sent  ^  the  papers  to 
Washington  who  transmitted  them  to  President  Boudinot, 
and  on  the  9th  they  were  referred  to  Messrs.  Duane, 
Read  and  Rutledge.  Boudinot's  expectation  ^  that  mercy 
would  be  extended  to  the  culprits  was  not  disappointed, 
for  on  the  13th  the  committee  recommended  that 
the  convicted  men  be  pardoned,  that  the  acquittal  of 
Symonds,  Chrystie  and  Huston  be  confirmed  and  that 
General  Howe  be  thanked  for  his  prudent  conduct  of 
the  inquiry.  ^ 

With  the  report  was  offered  a  draft  of  the  proclama- 
tion of  pardon.  Boudinot  issued  the  proclamation  that 
day  and  in  the  evening  forwarded  the  resolution  to  Gen- 
eral Howe ;  and  Washington  was  directed  on  September 
23d  to  signify  to  the  officers  and  privates  of  the  detach- 

1  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  38,  p.  183. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  189. 

*  Ibid.,  16,  p.  242. 

*  Ibid.,  38,  p.  109. 
^  Ibid.,  p.  115. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  119.     Letters  to  Washingson,  64,  folio  135. 

''  Boudinot  to  Franklin,  Sept.  9th.  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  16,  p.  244.  Boudinot, 
Vol.  I,  p.  374. 

*  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  21,  p.  367. 

10 


146  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

ment  under  Howe  the  satisfaction  of  Congress  with  their 
"promptitude  and  Alacrity "  on  the  service  in  which 
they  had  been  engaged.^ 

The  men  in  Howe's  detachment  had  been  pursued  by 
ill  fortune.  Their  miserable  condition  when  they  reached 
Princeton  on  the  way  to  Philadelphia  has  already  been 
mentioned.  At  the  Germantown  camp  measles  broke 
out,  caught,  it  was  thought,  on  the  march  through  New 
Jersey,  "as  many  houses  on  the  road  were  full  of  it,"  and 
almost  all  of  the  detachment  suffered  from  the  epidemic.^ 
The  troops  began  their  march  back  to  headquarters  on 
August  23d  and  for  five  days  the  exodus  was  continued. 
The  sick  men  were  moved  as  soon  as  it  could  be  done 
with  safety.  Washington  desired  the  soldiers  to  rejoin 
the  main  army  as  speedily  as  possible,  and  apparently  did 
not  understand  Howe's  slowness  in  carrying  out  this 
wish.  On  September  14th  Howe  wrote  to  Washington 
hoping  soon  to  pay  his  respects  to  him  at  Rocky  Hill ;  he 
would  have  done  so  sooner  had  he  not  been  disinclined 
to  leave  Philadelphia  until  all  the  matters  committed  to 
his  charge  were  settled.^  But  he  was  still  in  Philadelphia 
on  October  21st,  detained  there  by  lack  of  funds  to  pay  a 
public  debt  for  which  he  was  being  held  responsible.  "  I 
find  myself,"  says  he,  compell'd  to  divest  myself  of  my 
private  resources  for  Debts  not  my  own,  &  with  thousands 
due  to  me  from  my  Country  to  be  almost  in  a  state  of  ab- 
solute want."  * 

Saturday,  September  13th,  was  a  red  letter  day  of  the 
Princeton  session.  On  that  day  was  carried  the  final 
report  of  the  committee  consisting  of  Rutledge,  Ells- 
worth, Bedford,  Gorham  and  Madison,  to  whom  had  been 
referred  the  act  of  the  Virginia  Legislature  of  January  2d, 

^  Letters  to  Washington,  64,  folio  205. 
«/3zV/.,  folio  78. 

*  Ibid.,  folio  164. 

*  Ibid.,  folio  303, 


THE   summer's   debates  I47 

1 78 1 ,  offering  to  cede  all  of  the  western  land  claimed  by 
Virginia,  except  what  is  now  Kentucky.  No  other  report 
acted  on  during  the  five  months  of  the  stay  of  Congress  at 
Princeton  was  so  full  of  meaning  for  the  future  territorial 
expansion  and  development  of  the  United  States.  It 
practically  ended  the  long  wrangle  over  the  western  lands, 
and  opened  the  way  for  a  land  policy  which  would  in 
every  feature  surpass  the  plans  and  possibilities  of  the 
individual  claimants. 

The  report  had  come  up  for  discussion  on  Septem- 
ber nth,  when  the  Maryland  members,  finding  that 
New  Jersey  and  Delaware  were  absent,  endeavored 
to  have  consideration  postponed  for  a  week,  and  failed. 
On  the  13th  the  debate  being  continued,  Maryland  pro- 
posed as  a  substitute  for  the  report  a  resolution  that 
a  committee  be  appointed  to  report  on  the  territory 
lying  outside  of  the  boundaries  of  the  undivided  States, 
but  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  with  a  view  to 
the  formation  of  one  or  more  new  States,  and  also  to  re- 
port on  the  establishment  of  a  land  office.  But  New 
Jersey  and  Maryland,  with  Mr.  Foster,  New  Hamp- 
shire's solitary  representative,  alone  voted  in  favor  of  the 
substitute  and  then  the  report  itself  came  up.  In  the 
report  the  committee  had  either  answered  or  agreed  to 
each  of  eight  conditions  Virginia  had  attached  to  the  offer 
of  cession ;  and  it  was  resolved  that,  if  Virginia  would, 
modify  her  conditions  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of 
the  report.  Congress  would  accept  the  cession.  The  two 
States  which  had  voted  in  the  affirmative  on  the  substitute 
now  took  the  negative,  and  the  resolution  was  passed  by 
eight  yeas  to  two  nays.  It  need  scarcely  be  added  that  on 
October  20th  Virginia  agreed  to  the  new  terms  and  the 
cession  was  formally  completed  by  a  deed  of  transfer  on 
March  ist,  1784. 

Closely  connected  with  the  question  of  the  land  policy 


148  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

of  the  United  States  was  that  of  Indian  relations,  and 
the  presence  in  Princeton  of  three  Delaware  Indian 
youths,  who  in  1779  had  been  sent  there  for  education  at 
government  expense  —  an  experiment  not  altogether  a 
success  —  together  with  the  reports  of  their  progress 
and  conduct  which  reached  the  ears  of  Congressmen  dur- 
ing the  summer,  lent  the  whole  matter  of  the  national 
policy  toward  the  Indians  a  very  real  interest  which  it 
otherwise  might  have  lacked.  ^ 

On  August  13th  Messrs.  Williamson,  Wilson,  Izard, 
Duane  and  Carroll,  acting  as  a  committee  on  a  resolution 
of  the  first  named  gentleman  reported  the  draft  of  an  Or- 
dinance prohibiting  the  settlement  or  purchase  of  lands 
belonging  to  Indians.     August  15th  was  assigned  for  a 

1  The  understanding  on  which  the  three  boys  had  been  left  at  Princeton  was 
that  if  the  United  States  should  be  successful  in  the  contest  with  Great  Britain,  the 
Delaware  tribe  would  cede  to  the  government  a  portion  of  its  territory  in  compen- 
sation for  the  expense  incurred  by  the  boys'  education.  One  of  them,  George 
White-Eyes,  now  twelve  years  of  age,  had  fully  equalled  all  expectations.  With 
his  cousin  John  Killbuck,  a  lad  of  nineteen,  he  was  reading  Latin  and  both  were 
almost  ready  to  enter  college ;  but  John  had  contracted  some  sort  of  irregular 
marriage  with  a  serving-maid  at  "  Prospect"  and  she  expected  soon  to  become  a 
mother.  He  wished  to  legalize  his  marriage,  complete  his  studies  and  take  his 
wife  home  to  his  own  country,  where  he  intended  to  become  a  merchant.  Thomas 
Killbuck,  the  remaining  government  ward,  was  about  twenty-one  years  old  and 
had  proved  too  old  to  be  reclaimed.  He  was  pitifully  homesick  and  desired  only 
to  be  allowed  to  go  home.  This  general  situation  Colonel  Morgan,  into  whose 
charge  the  boys  had  been  given,  laid  before  Robert  Morris  in  September,  advising 
him  that  Thomas  be  sent  back  to  his  people,  that  temporary  provision  be  made  for 
John  and  his  family  and  that  George  White-Eyes'  education  be  continued.  Mr. 
Morris  handed  the  documents  to  President  Boudinot,  who  laid  them  before  Congress 
with  the  result  that  the  whole  matter  was  entrusted  to  a  committee  composed  of 
Messrs.  Hawkins,  Ellery  and  Mercer.  But  these  gentlemen  thought  it  inexpedient 
to  send  the  trio  back  to  their  tribe  in  the  present  unsettled  condition  of  Indian 
affairs,  and  offered  a  resolution  that  Colonel  Morgan  apprentice  Thomas  Killbuck 
to  a  good  blacksmith  —  he  had  picked  up  the  rudiments  of  that  trade  —  and  that 
he  make  the  necessary  provision  for  the  maintenance  of  John  Killbuck  and  young 
White-Eyes.  Thomas  petitioned  Congress  several  times  during  the  next  twelve 
months  but  it  was  not  until  October,  1785,  that  he  and  his  brother  were  released 
from  what  had  become  to  them  bondage.  George  White-Eyes  entered  college, 
but  was  never  graduated.  Cf.  Princeton  University  Bulletin,  Vol.  13,  p.  loi, 
et  seq. 


THE   summer's   debates 


149 


second  reading,  but  it  was  not  called  up  until  the  19th 
when  consideration  was  ordered  to  be  postponed  for  one 
week.  It  was  the  28th,  however,  before  the  draft  was 
taken  from  the  table,  and  then  it  was  referred  to  a  grand 
committee  of  eleven  members  who  met  that  evening  in 
the  college  library  room.^  Their  report  on  the  draft  was 
delivered  September  ist,  and  again  a  delay  occurred, 
during  which  the  final  report  on  the  Virginia  cession  was 
debated  and  agreed  to.  In  the  meantime  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  had  been  considering  that  portion  of  the 
general  Indian  question  which  concerned  itself,  and  on 
September  13th  the  Pennsylvania  delegates  received  in- 
structions from  the  State  Legislature  to  obtain  from 
Congress  its  sense  of  a  proposed  conference  between 
Pennsylvania  and  neighboring  Indians  respecting  a  pur- 
chase from  the  latter  of  lands  lying  within  the  borders  of 
the  State.  The  communication  being  read  in  Congress 
was  referred  to  a  committee  which  reported  on  the  19th 
inst.,  and  the  report  came  up  for  consideration  on  the  20th. 
Its  gist  was  that  Congress  had  no  objection  to  the  proposed 
conference,  provided  nothing  resembling  a  treaty  was 
entered  into  with  the  Indians,  the  treaty-making  power 
being  vested  in  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled, 
and  provided  that  due  notice  of  the  conference  be  given 
to  the  executives  of  Virginia  and  New  York,  who  should 
be  allowed  to  send  commissioners  to  said  conference. 

Mr.  Gerry,  aided  by  Mr.  EUery,  believing  that  the 
general  Indian  policy  of  the  United  States  should  be  set- 
tled before  any  individual  State  should  be  allowed  to  enter 
into  personal  negotiations,  endeavored  to  have  considera- 
tion postponed  for  a  few  days  and  his  motion  fell  victim 
to  an  avalanche  of  nays.  An  amendment,  however,  was 
carried  striking  out  the  first  proviso.  Massachusetts  then 
sought  to  have  the  date  of  the  conference  fixed  for  some 

iPap.  Cont.  Cong.,  30,  pp.  27,  29. 


150  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

time  posterior  to  agreement  on  terms  of  accommodation 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Indians,  but  the  two 
negatives  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  were  sufficient  to 
defeat  this  proposition.  Massachusetts  retaliated  on 
Pennsylvania  a  few  minutes  later  when  the  question  on 
the  report  up  to  the  proviso  was  called  for,  by  securing 
the  vote  of  Rhode  Island  for  the  negative,  thus  defeating 
the  measure  in  toto.^  Mr.  EUery  of  Rhode  Island  then 
offered  a  fresh  motion  to  the  effect  that  when  an  agree- 
ment should  be  reached  between  the  United  States  and 
the  pro-British  Indians,  Congress  would  have  no  objec- 
tions to  the  conference.  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  both 
declined  the  motion  and  it  failed  of  passage.  Thus  matters 
rested  over  Sunday. 

On  Monday  morning,  September  23d,  the  ordinance 
reported  on  the  ist  was  passed  by  Congress  and  a  conse- 
quent proclamation  was  issued,  whereby  all  persons  were 
forbidden  to  settle  on  land  inhabited  or  claimed  by  Indians 
without  the  limits  or  jurisdiction  of  any  State,  or 
from  purchasing  or  receiving  by  gift  or  cession  any  such 
land  or  claims,  without  the  express  authority  and  direc- 
tion of  the  United  States,  and  every  purchase,  settlement, 
gift  or  cession  made  without  this  authority  was  thereby 
declared  null  and  void.^  On  October  3d  the  matter  of 
the  national  policy  toward  the  Indians  was  reverted  to, 
when  a  general  convention  with  the  Indians  was  dis- 
cussed, and  the  next  day  the  Superintendent  of  Finance 
was  ordered  to  reserve  clothing  and  stores  for  2,000 
soldiers  and  for  gifts  to  the  Indians  at  the  proposed 
conference. 

The  debate  on  residence  now  intervening,  for  the  next 
ten  days  nothing  was  done  with  Indian  affairs.  On  Octo- 
ber 14th  consideration  of  the  report  was  resumed,  and 

*Pap.  Cont,  Cong.,  20,  Vol.  2,  p.  i6i  is  the  report. 
*Ibid.,  30,  p.  31. 


THE   summer's   debates  151 

an  important  paragraph  was  agreed  to  whereby  were 
conceded  the  wisdom  and  necessity  of  erecting  the  west- 
ern district  into  what  would  now  be  called  a  territory, 
and  of  appointing  a  committee  to  draft  a  plan  for  tempor- 
ary government  of  such  a  territory,  until  by  their  number 
and  circumstances  its  inhabitants  should  be  entitled  to 
admittance  into  the  union  as  members  of  a  free,  sovereign 
and  independent  state.  The  next  day  the  full  report 
was  passed.  The  committee,  Messrs.  Duane,  Peters, 
Carroll,  Hawkins  and  Lee  stated  that  they  had  consulted 
with  Washington  and  had  attentively  considered  the 
papers  and  letters  given  to  them.  They  confined  their 
report  to  the  Indian  affairs  in  the  northern  and  middle 
departments,  having  insufficient  data  for  the  southern 
region,  and  to  the  settlement  of  the  western  country. 
The  preamble  is  a  clear  statement  of  the  present  and 
possible  relations  existing  between  the  United  States  and 
the  Indian  Tribes,  and  the  following  recommendations 
were  offered : 

First,  that  a  convention  be  held  with  the  Indians  of  the 
northern  and  middle  departments  who  had  fought  on  the 
British  side,  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  them  into  favor 
and  protection,  for  establishing  boundaries,  and  for  ex- 
tinguishing animosities  and  contention.  Second,  that  a 
committee  be  appointed  to  report  an  ordinance  regulat- 
ing Indian  trade,  and  prohibiting  civil  and  military  offic- 
ers from  trading  with  the  Indians  or  purchasing  land  of 
them  without  express  sanction  from  Congress.  Third, 
these  measures  were  not  to  be  construed  as  affecting  the 
territorial  claims  of  any  of  the  States  of  the  Union  within 
their  respective  limits.  And  fourth,  inasmuch  as  these 
measures  would  by  no  means  secure  the  United  States 
against  the  increase  of  "feeble,  disorderly  and  dispersed  " 
settlements  in  the  west,  and  as  such  settlements  would 
give  the  United  States  endless  trouble,  it  was  submitted 


152  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

that,  as  soon  as  circumstances  would  allow,  it  would  be 
wise  to  erect  a  territory  out  of  the  western  district  agree- 
able to  the  decision  of  October  14th.  The  rest  of  the 
report  was  referred  back  to  the  committee  for  further 
consideration.  On  October  20th  a  report  was  made  by 
the  committee  on  the  Pennsylvania  communication,  and 
on  the  22d  it  was  considered.  The  committee  suggested 
that,  inasmuch  as  the  application  from  the  Legislature  had 
emanated  apparently  from  sentiments  of  respect  and  con- 
sideration for  the  Federal  Government,  and  from  a 
praiseworthy  design  to  avoid  complication  with  Federal 
action  in  Indian  affairs,  it  be  resolved  that  the  commis- 
sioners for  the  convention  under  act  of  October  15th 
notify  the  Supreme  Executive  of  Pennsylvania  of  the 
time  and  place  of  the  convention  so  that  commissioners 
from  that  State  might  attend,  and  that  the  Commissioners 
of  the  United  States  give  every  aid  in  their  power,  not 
incompatible  with  the  best  interests  of  the  United  States, 
to  the  commissioners  of  Pennsylvania  in  furthering  the 
object  which  that  State  had  in  view. 

Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  alone  voted  against 
the  report,  and  aided  by  the  absence  of  New  Jersey  and 
Delaware,  which  both  favored  it,  succeeded  in  prevent- 
ing its  passage.  ^  Nothing  daunted,  the  Pennsylvania 
members  bided  their  time,  and  on  October  30th  in  Mr. 
Gerry's  absence  moved  a  reconsideration,  and  the  report 
with  a  few  minor  verbal  changes  was  agreed  to  by  a  vote 
of  seven  to  one,  Rhode  Island  voting  still  in  the  negative, 
Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina  being  divided. 

The  retrospect  over  the  summer's  work  could  not  have 
been  flattering.  The  reports  on  the  Virginia  cession  and 
on  Indian  affairs  alone  marked  progress.  The  plan  of  a 
peace   establishment   was   either   dead   or   dying.     The 

^  These  documents  are  in  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  30,  pp.  35,  175,  229,  and  Ibid., 
20,  Vol.  2,  p.  165. 


THE   summer's  debates  153 

department  of  foreign  affairs,  quite  as  important  at  this 
critical  period  as  any  other,  was  still  without  a  head. 
The  finances  of  the  republic  were  being  slowly  straight- 
ened out,  but  with  inconceivable  friction  and  almost 
entirely  at  the  nervous  expense  of  the  Financier.  He 
was  the  object  of  "almost  daily  attack,"  says  Madison, 
and  his  department  would  be  "reduced  to  its  crisis"  at 
his  final  resignation.^  As  for  the  Definitive  Treaty,  the 
members  of  Congress  had  given  up  expectations  of  any 
treaty  other  than  one  in  the  language  of  the  Provisional 
Articles.  The  dilatory  tactics  of  Great  Britain  were 
fully  appreciated,  and  the  rejection  of  the  American  Com- 
missioners' commercial  proposals  was  speedily  learned  in 
letters  from  Laurens,  received  at  Princeton  about  the 
middle  of  August.  "  From  these  dispatches,"  says  Ezra 
L'Hommedieu,  "  it  seems  far  from  British  policy  to  make 
any  treaty  with  America  on  the  Principles  of  Reciprocity. 
They  have  now  every  advantage  of  our  Commerce  with- 
out any  Obstructions,  on  our  part,  given  on  theirs."* 

The  impressions  of  an  English  officer,  F.  Michaelis,' 
who  in  September  made  a  secret  trip  out  of  the  British 
lines  at  New  York  for  the  express  purpose  of  sounding 
public  opinion,  would  have  us  believe  that  Congress  had 
not  improved  its  reputation  during  the  summer.  The 
nation,  according  to  his  observation,  was  '  *  sick  of  Con- 
gress ;  they  speak  of  them  with  the  utmost  contempt ; 
Congress  themselves  are  tired  of  their  Situation,  the 
unpopularity  of  which  they  feel  even  in  the  streets  of 
Princeton " ;  the  members  all  expected,  and  most  of 
them  wished  for  a  revolution,  and  this  revolution  was 
believed  to  be  close  at   hand ;  there  was  an  opposition 

1  Madison  to  Jefferson,  September  20th.  Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  I,  p.  573; 
Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  21. 

'Clinton  MSS.,  5165,  August  22d. 
'Bancroft  MSS.,  America,  2,  p.  225. 


154  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

to  it,  weak  in  power  though  strong  in  abilities,  of  which 
Charles  Thomson  was  thought  to  be  the  head,  with  the 
eastern  states  supporting  him.  Michaelis,  however,  con- 
sidered that  "the  junto  of  Washington,  Wederspoon,* 
Marbois  and  the  Cincinnati,  besides  the  clear  majority  of 
the  people  in  Congress,  and  I  am  confident  a  majority  of 
the  people  at  large"  would  carry  its  point.  It  is  an 
interesting  coincidence  that  two  days  after  Michaelis 
penned  this  passage,  Stephen  Higginson,  of  Massachu- 
setts, wrote  to  Colonel  Bland  and  inquired  about  ' '  the 
Designs  of  the  Aristocratic  Junto  in  Congress."^  The 
expected  revolution,  if  not  openly  discussed,  was  at  least 
broadly  hinted  at  in  tavern  taprooms,  for  it  was  in  such 
a  public  resort  that  Michaelis  overheard  the  objection 
raised  against  Baltimore  as  a  Federal  residence  that  it 
was  too  warm,  to  which  the  significant  answer  was  made 
that  ' '  By  the  time  the  weather  grows  warm  the  Congress 
will  sit  nowhere.'' 

Michaelis  was  in  Princeton  during  the  college  Com- 
mencement season,  and  had  ample  opportunity  to  note 
candid  expressions  of  public  opinion  from  the  crowd  of 
visitors  who  came  to  the  village  on  that  occasion,  and 
although  a  biassed  observer,  his  impressions  are  not  with- 
out their  value. 

*John  Witherspoon. 

*  Virginia  Magazine,  Vol.  9,  p.  76. 


CHAPTER  IX 

CONGRESS  AT  COMMENCEMENT 

On  September  226.  the  New  Jersey  branch  of  the 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati  met  at  Princeton  to  hold  its  an- 
nual session  and  to  elect  officers  for  the  ensuing  year. 
Forty-five  members  assembled.  The  minutes  of  the  meet- 
ings contain  nothing  but  the  barest  record  of  business 
done.  At  nine  o'clock  on  the  following  morning  before 
the  ballots  were  cast  for  the  new  officers,  an  election  of 
honorary  members  was  held  and  President  Boudinot, 
Governor  Livingston  of  New  Jersey  and  Brigadier  Gen- 
eral David  Forman  were  elected.  General  Elias  Dayton 
was  then  reelected  to  the  presidency,  Colonel  Brearly 
to  the  Vice  Presidency  and  the  Rev.  Andrew  Hunter 
to  the  secretaryship.  Major  Richard  Cox  was  chosen 
Treasurer  and  Doctor  Ebenezer  Elmer  assistant  treasurer. 
The  next  morning,  September  24th,  the  Society  met  at 
eight  o'clock  and  elected  Frederick  Freylinghuysen, 
Robert  Lettice  Hooper  and  Dr.  Thomas  Henderson  as 
honorary  members.  The  president  was  ordered  to 
inform  the  newly  chosen  members  of  their  election  and 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  draw  up  a  set  of  by-laws. 
Then,  after  arranging  to  meet  next  year  on  July  4th  at 
Trenton,  the  Society  adjourned  to  attend  the  Commence- 
ment exercises  of  the  college.'  Congress  likewise,  after 
a  brief  session  to  which  the  Journal  contains  no  allusion, 
but  at  which  at  least  one  report  was  delivered,^  adjourned 

1  MS.  Minutes  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey. 
For  a  certified  copy  of  these  minutes  I  am  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  W.  T.  B.  S. 
Imlay,  Esq.,  Secretary  of  the  Society. 

'Report  of  Williamson,  Clark  and  Gerry  on  Ebenezer  Greene.  (Pap.  Cont. 
Cong.,  19,  Vol.  2,  p.  521.)     His  case  was  acted  on,  October  13th.     Extract  of 


156  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

for  the  same  purpose,  leaving,  in  the  words  of  the  day's 
valedictorian,  the  ' '  affairs  of  empires  and  the  fate  of  na- 
tions to  attend  on  the  essays  of  inexperienced  youth." 

The  exercises  were  held  in  the  old  Presbyterian  church, 
a  stone's  throw  from  Nassau  Hall.  The  injuries  the  edi- 
fice had  suffered  by  its  use  as  a  barracks  during  the  Revo- 
lution were  partially  concealed  by  half  finished  restora- 
tions, and  a  platform  had  been  erected  across  the  pulpit 
end  of  the  building. 

The  Pennsylvania  Gazette  for  October  8th  contains  the 
complete  programme.^ 

Princeton,  September  ^7. 

On  Wednesday  the  24th  instant,  the  public  commence- 
ment was  held  in  the  college  church,  before  a  very  polite 
assembly. 

The  exercises  were  introduced  with  a  prayer  by  the 
president ;  after  which  succeeded  a  latin  salutatory  oration 
on  the  union  of  learning  and  religion,  by  Mr.  Holmes. 

An  English  oration  on  the  dangers  and  advantages  of 
popular  elections,  by  Mr.  Beach. 

A  forensic  disputation  of  this  question,  —  Is  there  any 
sufiicient  reason  in  the  state  of  society,  and  the  improve- 
ment of  the  human  mind,  why  a  more  cool  and  dispas- 
sionate eloquence  should  be  cultivated  among  us  than  was 
among  the  ancients?  by  Messrs.  A.  Green,  J.  Radclift 
and  S.  Beach. 

An  oration  on  the  subject  of  female  education ;  by  Mr. 
Snowden. 

A  dispute  on  this  question,  —  Was  Brutus  justified  in 
killing  Caesar?  by  Messrs.  J.  Venable,  G.  Snowden  and 
E.  Taylor. 

An  oration  on  taste,  by  Mr.  Ford. 

A  dispute  on  the  question,  —  Can  any  measure  that  is 
morally  evil  be  politically  good?  by  Messrs.  J.  Venable 
and  J.  Radclift. 

N.  H.  Minutes  referring  him  to  Congress  (June  2d,  1783)  was  received  September 
22d,  and  turned  over  to  the  above  committee. 

^See  also  Rivington's  Royal  Gazette,  October  4th,  1783,  Pennsylvania  Packet, 
October  7th,  1783. 


CONGRESS   AT   COMMENCEMENT  1 57 

An  oration  on  delicacy  of  sentiment,  by  Mr.  Woodruff. 

The  degree  of  batchelor  of  arts  was  then  conferred  on 
the  following  young  gentlemen,  Samuel  Beach,  William 
Clements,  Ashbel  Green,  Obidiah  Holmes,  James  Hunt, 
Timothy  Ford,  Nathaniel  Lawrence,  Jacob  Le  Roy, 
Jacob  Radclift,  Joseph  Riddle,  Gilbert  Snowden,  Edward 
Taylor,  Joseph  Venable,  George  Woodruff.  Mr.  Ephraim 
Ramsay  A.  B.  in  Philadelphia  was  admitted  ad  eundem 
in  this  college. 

The  degree  of  master  of  arts  was  conferred  on  the 
reverend  John  Blair  Smith  of  Hamden-Sidney,  in  Vir- 
ginia, Messrs.  Andrew  Bayard,  Jonathan  Dayton,  Mor- 
gan Lewis,  Aaron  Ogden,  George  Merchant,  James  Rid- 
dle, Joseph  Rue,  Richard  Stockton,  Peter  Wilson  and 
Aaron  Woodruff,  alumni  of  this  college.  The  honorary 
degree  of  master  of  arts  was  conferred  on  Ralph  Bowie, 
Esquire,  of  Lincoln's  inn,  and  colonel  David  Cobb,  A.M. 
in  Harvard,  and  colonel  David  Humphrey,  A.M.  in  Yale, 
were  admitted  ad  eundem  in  this  college. 

The  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  was  conferred  on  the 
reverend  Elizur  Goodrich  of  Durham  in  Connecticut,  one 
of  the  fellows  of  Yale  college,  on  the  reverend  Charles 
Nesbit  of  Montrose  in  Scotland,  on  the  reverend  Mr. 
Wren,  of  Portsmouth  in  England.^ 

The  President  then  gave  the  charge  to  the  class  that 
had  just  commenced,  and  the  whole  of  the  exercises  were 

'  Benjamin  Franklin  (Wharton,  Vol.  6,  p.  588)  had  suggested  this  mark  of  ap- 
preciation, and  Dr.  Wren  was  further  honored  a  few  days  later  by  a  vote  of  thanks 
from  Congress  "  for  his  humane  and  benevolent  attention  to  the  Citizens  of  these 
United  States  who  were  prisoners  at  Portsmouth  in  G.B.  during  the  War  "  (Pap. 
Cont.  Cong.  Secret  Journal,  Vol.  3,  No,  6,  p.  199,  also  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.  16,  p. 
264,  Boudinot's  letter  transmitting  the  resolution  of  Congress).  He  was  a  non- 
conformist minister  of  Portsmouth  who  had  by  his  sympathy  and  material  aid  done 
much  to  alleviate  the  suffering  of  American  privateersmen  confined  in  Forton 
Prison  near  Portsmouth.  He  started  a  relief  fund  for  their  benefit  and  collected 
throughout  Great  Britain  £  3815  17s.  6d.  paying  to  officers  five  to  eight  shillings 
and  to  crews  two  shillings  per  week  wherewith  to  buy  comforts.  Dr.  Wren's  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  diploma  of  the  college  and  the  vote  of  thanks  from  Congress 
was  dated  Portsmouth,  February  1 2,  1 784,  and  addressed  to  President  Boudinot. 
It  is  in  the  Princeton  Collection,  Library  of  Princeton  University.  Dr.  Wren 
died  on  October  30,  1787,  in  his  63d  year.  An  appreciative  obituary  of  him 
may  be  found  in  the  Gentleman' s  Magazine  for  1787,  p.  1026. 


158  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT  PRINCETON 

concluded  with  a  valedictory  oration  pronounced  by  Mr. 
A,  Green.  The  assembly  was  remarkably  decent  and 
attentive,  and  the  young  gentlemen  acquitted  themselves 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  procure  the  approbation  of  some 
of  the  foremost  characters  in  America. 

We  do  not  know  who  were  in  the  body  of  the  house, 
but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  on  the  platform  sat  a  company 
of  men  to  many  of  whom  it  would  have  been  difficult  to 
refuse  the  Gazette  s  appellation  of  ' '  foremost  characters 
in  America."  Nor  was  their  sole  claim  to  the  title  based 
on  the  fact  that  into  their  hands  had  been  entrusted  the 
reins  of  government  laid  down  by  those  who  had  thrown 
off  British  rule.  They  were  not  fortuitously  among  the 
leading  men  of  America.  Most  of  the  great  civilian  fig- 
ures of  the  Revolution  were  indeed  no  longer  in  Congress, 
and  with  one  supreme  exception  we  cannot  say  what 
military  heroes  were  present  other  than  those  in  the  ranks 
of  the  New  Jersey  Cincinnati,  although  the  circumstances 
surrounding  this  Commencement  lead  us  to  cherish  the 
belief  that  they  were  not  alone ;  but  of  the  men  whose 
presence  can  be  affirmed  scarcely  one  is  missing  from  the 
annals  of  the  war  and,  no  strange  thing  for  a  company 
of  young  men  in  such  a  youthful  country,  most  of  them 
had  careers  of  distinction  still  awaiting  them. 

Even  the  graduating  class  could  claim  a  share  in  the 
war  just  ended  ;  for  Ashbel  Green,  the  valedictorian,  had 
served  in  the  army  before  he  had  ever  thought  of  college, 
and  Nathaniel  Lawrence,^  who  had  formerly  been  a  stu- 
dent at  Princeton  and  was  now  to  receive  his  degree  as  a 
member  of  the  Class  of  1783,  was  a  captain  in  the  2d 
North  Carolina  regiment  and  for  nearly  two  years  had 
suffered  on  Long  Island  the  hardships  of  a  prisoner  of 
war  in  British  confinement. 

Dr.  John  Witherspoon,  who  with  consciousness  of  patri- 
otic duty  well  done  had  returned  to  build  up  the  totter- 

•'  See  North  Carolina  State  Records,  Vol.  i6,  pp.  88i,  939. 


CONGRESS   AT   COMMENCEMENT  1 59 

ing  institution  on  whose  behalf  that  day  he  acted  as  host, 
presided  in  academic  gown  and  his  gratification  at  the 
6clat  attending  this  the  fifteenth  anniversary  of  his  first 
Commencement  as  president  of  the  College  of  New  Jer- 
sey was  said  to  be  plainly  visible. 

Conspicuous  in  his  buff  and  blue,  the  cynosure  of  all 
eyes,  was  General  Washington,  who  had  ridden  in  from 
Rocky  Hill  that  morning  to  honor  the  occasion  with  his 
presence.  Beside  him  was  the  Continental  Congress 
grouped  about  Elias  Boudinot,  its  distinguished  president. 
In  that  body  it  would  have  been  easy  to  mark  the  classic 
head  and  snow  white  hair  of  Charles  Thomson,  its  cul- 
tured secretary,  and  in  contrast  the  youthful  countenance 
of  James  Madison  of  Virginia,  the  most  brilliant  of  the 
younger  generation,  or  the  still  more  youthful  face  of 
Benjamin  Hawkins  of  North  Carolina,  who  was  yet  in 
his  twenties,  but  who  had  not  been  too  young  to  serve  in 
the  war  as  Washington's  staff  interpreter. 

Not  far  from  Madison  sat  his  classmate.  Gunning  Bed- 
ford of  Delaware,  who  too  had  been  one  of  Washington's 
aides.  Another  Virginian  was  Dr.  Arthur  Lee,  who  after 
an  education  at  Eton  and  Edinburgh  had  renounced  medi- 
cine for  law  and  law  for  politics,  and  then  had  served 
more  or  less  successfully  as  one  of  the  American  Com- 
missioners at  Paris  during  the  war.  James  Tilton,  Rich- 
ard Peters,  Theodoric  Bland  and  Thomas  Fitzsimmons 
had  all  at  one  time  or  another  commanded  troops.  Rich- 
ard Peters  became  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  War  and 
Commissioner  of  War.  James  Tilton,  who  had  aban- 
doned a  lucrative  medical  practice  to  enter  the  army,  had 
rendered  valuable  service  when  in  charge  of  military 
hospitals  in  New  Jersey.  Colonel  Bland,  too,  had  left 
medicine  for  active  military  service  and  had  captained  the 
first  troop  of  Virginia  cavalry,  and  won  promotion  by  his 
brilliant  work.     Still  another  doctor  was  James  McHenry 


l6o  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

who  had  studied  under  Benjamin  Rush,  and  had  entered 
the  army  as  assistant  surgeon  in  i  'j'j6,  becoming  Medical 
Director.  Hugh  Williamson  and  Samuel  Holten  also 
boasted  medical  diplomas.  James  Duane,  Elbridge  Gerry, 
William  EUery  and  Abraham  Clark  were  old  familiar 
figures ;  they  had  served  almost  continuously  from  the 
outset  of  the  struggle  for  independence,  and  the  last  three 
had  signed  their  names  to  the  Declaration.  Oliver  Ells- 
worth had  left  Congress  by  this  time,  and  so  also  had 
Alexander  Hamilton,  the  ablest  man  of  them  all. 
Diplomatic  circles  were  represented  by  the  French  Min- 
ister, the  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne.^ 

Among  the  Trustees  of  the  college  who  were  present ' 
we  find  a  number  of  leading  Revolutionary  Presbyterian 
names:  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Rodgers,  "the  most  accom- 
plished clergyman  of  his  day  "  who  had  been  chaplain  of 
General  Heath's  Brigade  in  1776,  and  whose  churches 
in  Wall  Street  and  Beekman  Street,  New  York,  had 
been  used  by  the  British  as  a  barracks  and  a  hospital  and 
then  left  in  ruins ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Elihu  Spencer  whose 
ardent  advocacy  of  the  cause  of  independence  had  made 
him  a  special  object  of  hatred  to  the  Tories ;  the  Rev. 
John  Woodhull  (Princeton,  1766),  the  Leacock  pastor  who 
had  induced  his  male  parishioners  to  shoulder  muskets 
to  Valley  Forge,  accompanying  them  as  chaplain ;  the 
Rev.  Dr.  George  Duffield  (Princeton,  1752)  one  of  the 
'  *  sturdiest  and  most  vivacious  of  the  Revolutionary 
preachers"  '  who  had  served  as  chaplain  during  the  war 
and  on  whose  head  a  price  had  been  set  by  the  enemy ;  and 

^  New  Jersey  local  historians,  reljring  on  Ashbel  Green's  autobiography,  keep 
repeating  the  statement  that  the  Dutch  Minister,  M.  Van  Berckel,  was  also  present. 
But  Van  Berckel  did  not  land  on  American  soil  until  October. 

*  The  complete  list  is  James  Boyd,  John  Bayard,  George  Duffield,  Timothy 
Johns,  John  Mason,  Alexander  McWhorter,  John  Rodgers,  Azel  Roe,  Robert 
Smith,  William  Peartree  Smith,  Jonathan  Bayard  Smith,  Isaac  Snowden,  Elihu 
Spencer,  John  Woodhull  and  Elias  Boudinot. 

»  M.  C.  Tyler,  Lit.  Hist.  Am.  Revol.,  Vol.  2,  p.  312. 


John  Withersi'OON 

[From  the  engraving  draivn/roin  life  by  T.  Trotter,  published  in  /7i?j] 


CONGRESS  AT   COMMENCEMENT  l6l 

the  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  McWhorter  (Princeton,  1757) 
chaplain  of  Knox's  Artillery  Brigade.  Among  the  lay  trus- 
tees were  Col.  John  Bayard,  the  Philadelphia  merchant, 
patriot  and  ex-Congressman  who  had  fought  at  Brandy- 
wine,  Germantown,  Trenton  and  Princeton,  and  had  re- 
ceived the  personal  commendation  of  Washington  for  his 
bravery  in  the  latter  engagement;  Jonathan  Bayard 
Smith  (Princeton,  1760),  one  of  the  first  espousers  of  the 
Revolutionary  cause  in  Philadelphia  and  also  an  ex- 
member  of  Congress.  And  finally,  as  reminders  of  the 
old  colonial  days  which  had  gone  forever,  William  Pear- 
tree  Smith  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Timothy  Johnes,  the  last 
two  of  the  original  trustees  of  the  college.  Of  the  eight 
Princeton  graduates  who  received  the  Master's  degree, 
three,  Jonathan  Dayton,  Morgan  Lewis,  and  Aaron 
Ogden,  had  served  with  distinction  on  the  battlefield. 
One  might  have  counted  on  that  platform  seven  signers 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ^  and  nine  signers  of 
the  Articles  of  Confederation. '  Four  had  signed  both 
of  these  instruments.  ^  Eleven  were  to  affix  their  names 
to  the  Constitution*  a  few  years  later  and  one  other, 
Elbridge  Gerry,  attended  the  Constitutional  Convention 
but  did  not  sign.  One  ex-president  of  Congress,  Samuel 
Huntington,  and  two  future  Presidents  of  the  United 
States,  Washington  and  Madison,  were  there.  A  future 
President  of  Princeton,  young  Ashbel  Green,  delivered 
the  valedictory,  while  still  another.  Dr.  Samuel  Stanhope 
Smith,  assisted  Witherspoon  in  the  details  of  that  morn- 
ing's ceremony. 

^  Abraham   Clark,  William   Ellery,  William   Floyd,  Elbridge  Gerry,  Samuel 
Huntington,  James  Wilson,  John  Witherspoon. 

2  Daniel  Carroll,  John  Collins,  James  Duane,  William  Ellery,  Elbridge  Gerry, 
Samuel  Holten,  Samuel  Huntington,  Jonathan  B.  Smith,  John  Witherspoon. 

'  Samuel  Huntington,  William  Ellery,  Elbridge  Gerry,  John  Witherspoon. 

*  Gunning  Bedford,  Daniel  Carroll,  Jonathan  Dayton,  Thomas  Fitzsimmons, 
Nathaniel    Gorham,  James    McHenry,  James    Madison,  John    Rutledge,  George 
Washington,  Hugh  Williamson,  James  Wilson. 
II 


l62  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

For  national  interest  this  Commencement  group  is 
probably  unparalleled  in  American  academic  history. 

Seated  together  in  the  audience  were  the  members  of 
the  New  Jersey  branch  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 
The  Society's  Minutes  show  that  General  Elias  Dayton, 
who  commanded  the  famous  Jersey  Brigade,  was  there 
with  Colonel  Jonathan  Forman,  Major  Richard  Cox  and 
Dr.  Ebenezer  Elmer.  Its  secretary,  Andrew  Hunter 
(Princeton,  1772),  had  been  a  chaplain  in  the  army. 

To  F.  Michaelis,  the  eavesdropping  English  officer 
already  mentioned,  we  are  indebted  for  a  curious  account 
of  the  exercises  of  the  day.  As  we  would  expect,  he  saw 
and  heard  nothing  that  pleased  him ;  and  his  detailed 
observations  on  the  character  of  Washington  and  the 
members  of  Congress  make  good  reading  if  poor  history. 
Of  Witherspoon  and  Commencement  he  has  this  to  say : 

An  account  of  the  present  face  of  things  in  America 
would  be  very  defective  indeed  if  no  mention  was  made 
of  this  political  firebrand,  who  perhaps  had  not  a  less 
share  in  the  Revolution  than  Washington  himself.  He 
poisons  the  minds  of  his  young  students  and  through 
them  the  Continent. 

He  is  the  intimate  friend  of  the  General ;  and  had  I  no 
other  arguments  to  support  my  ideas  of  Washington's 
designs,  I  think  his  intimacy  with  a  man  of  so  different  a 
character  with  his  own  (for  Washington's  private  one  is 
perfectly  amiable)  would  justify  my  suspicions. 

The  commencement  was  a  favourable  opportunity  for 
conveying  certain  sentiments  to  the  public  at  large  (for 
even  women  were  present)  .  .  .  This  farce  was  evidently 
introductory  of  the  drama  that  is  to  follow.  The  great 
maxim  which  this  commencement  was  to  establish  was 
the  following :  —  "A  time  may  come  in  every  Republic, 
and  that  may  be  the  case  with  America,  when  anarchy  makes 
it  the  duty  of  the  man  who  has  the  majority  of  the  people 
with  him,  to  take  the  helm  into  his  own  hands,  in  order 
to  save  his  country ;  and  the  person  who  opposes  him 
deserves  the  utmost  revenge  of  his  nation,  deserves — to 
be  sent  to  Nova  Scotia.     Vox  populi  vox  dei. 


CONGRESS  AT   COMMENCEMENT  163 

These  were  the  very  words  of  the  Moderator  who 
decided  on  the  question,  —  was  Brutus  justifiable  in  kill- 
ing Caesar?  Or  they  thought  us  all  who  heard  them 
blockheads,  or  they  were  not  afraid  of  avowing  their 
designs.  This  was  plainer  English  still  than  the  pactum 
confederationis  of  the  Cincinnati.  When  the  young  man 
who  with  a  great  deal  of  passionate  claquerie  defended 
his  favorite  Brutus  extolled  the  virtue  of  the  man  who 
could  stab  even  his  father  when  attempting  the  liberties 
of  his  country,  I  thought  I  saw  Washington's  face 
clouded ;  he  did  not  dare  to  look  the  orator  in  the  face 
who  stood  just  before  him,  but  with  downcast  look 
seemed  wishing  to  hide  the  impression  which  a  subject 
that  touched  him  so  near,  had  I  thought  very  visibly 
made  on  his  countenance  .  .  .  The  orations  of  the  younger 
boys  were  full  of  the  coarsest  invectives  against  British 
tyranny.  I  will  do  Mr.  Wetherspoon  the  justice  to  think 
he  was  not  the  author  of  them,  for  they  were  too  poor 
indeed ;  besides  they  evidently  conveyed  different  senti- 
ments ;  there  was  one  of  them  not  unfavorable  to  liberal 
sentiments  even  towards  Britons.  But  upon  the  whole  it 
is  but  just  to  suppose  that  Wetherspoon  had  read  them  all. 

The  Minister  of  Peace  was  not  present,  though  ex- 
pected ;  but  I  have  a  right  to  think  that  all  or  almost  all 
the  members  of  Congress  and  all  the  Cincinnati  in  the 
neighborhood  assisted  at  this  entertainment.  The  Cin- 
cinnati sat  together  en  corps.  ^ 

Of  two  orations  at  least,  delivered  at  that  Commence- 
ment and  which  have  survived  the  lapse  of  time,  it  may 
be  said  that  they  contain  nothing  that  could  by  any  stretch 
of  imagination  be  classed  as  * '  coarse  invective  against 
British  tyranny."  That  the  war  should  be  touched  on 
was  only  reasonable.  Elsewhere,  Commencement  speak- 
ers might  have  failed  to  allude  with  pride  to  its  success- 
ful termination,  but  at  Princeton  this  was  impossible. 
The  College  of  New  Jersey  had  nothing  to  be  ashamed 
of,  nothing  to  regret,  in  that  strife. 

Washington,  of  course,  was  the  chief  guest  of  the  occa- 

^  Bancroft  MSS.,  Carleton  Papers,  36,  Amer.  2,  p.  225. 


164  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

sion,   and   both   the  orations   mentioned   above  contain 
laudatory  reference  to  him. 

The  first  was  delivered  by  one  of  the  boys  of  the  col- 
lege grammar-school,  in  the  annual  public  oratorical 
contest  of  the  graduation  exercises  the  evening  before 
Commencement  Day.  His  name  has  not  come  down 
although  the  Pennsylvania  Packet  published  his  composi- 
tion a  few  days  later.  It  contains  this  paragraph  of  thinly- 
veiled  compliment : 

I  bless  God,  too,  that  while  I  shall  be  employed  in  ex- 
amining the  various  opinions  of  philosophers  respecting 
those  qualities  which  constitute  true  greatness,  I  live  at 
a  time  and  in  a  country  where  I  have  the  honor  and  hope 
to  feel  the  advantage  of  seeing  exhibited  in  one  character, 
a  living  example  of  them  all,  —  I  will  not  attempt  his 
praise.  —  His  superior  worth  is  acknowledged  over  all 
the  world ;  it  is  deeply  felt  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow 
citizens,  and  will,  I  trust,  not  only  continue  to  inspire 
the  most  grateful  recollection  of  his  inestimable  services, 
but  also  to  inspire  some  portion  of  the  same  spirit  of  true 
patriotism,  that  has  excited  those  glorious  efforts  which, 
by  the  blessing  of  Providence  have  effectuated  the  polit- 
ical salvation  of  this  happy  country.^ 

Ashbel  Green,  the  valedictorian  of  the  graduating  class, 
took  full  advantage  of  the  prerogatives  of  his  office,  and 
in  his  speech  the  climax  of  Commencement  Day's  interest 
was  reached.  After  bidding  the  customary  farewell  to 
the  trustees,  president,  faculty,  graduates,  and  under- 
graduates of  the  college,  the  orator  thanked  the  members 
of  Congress,  "  Illustrious  Senators  of  America,"  for  the 
honor  of  their  presence,  assuring  them  that 

The  faithful  historian,  some  American  Livy  or  Robert- 
son, shall  tell  to  ages  yet  unborn,  the  deeds  of  those 
patriots  whose  virtue,  wisdom  and  perseverance,  procured 
the  blessings  which  they  enjoyed ;  and  as  wise,  virtuous 
and  firm  as  the  American  Congress,  shall  be  a  compliment 
to  the  legislators  of  futurity. 

^  See  Appendix  V. 


CONGRESS  AT   COMMENCEMENT  165 

Then  turning  to  Washington,  he  continued  amid  the 
breathless  attention  of  the  audience  and  the  visible  embar- 
rassment of  the  General : 

Nor  in  that  day,  illustrious  and  magnanimous  chief, 
shall  thy  actions  and  thy  exploits  be  unrecorded.  Some 
future  bard,  whom  all  the  muses  love  —  oh,  that  it  might 
be  some  happy  son  of  Nassau  Hall,  shall  tell  in  all  the 
majesty  of  epic  song,  the  man  whose  prudent  conduct, 
and  whose  gallant  sword,  taught  the  tyrants  of  the  earth 
to  fear  oppression,  and  opened  an  asylum  for  the  virtuous, 
and  free  to  all  the  world.  But,  adventurous  bard,  who- 
ever thou  art,  beware.  Leave  poetic  fiction  and  ornament 
to  those  whose  themes  require  it ;  the  greatest  panegyric 
of  my  hero  is  his  true  character. 

The  next  day,  so  Ashbel  Green  tells  us  in  the  auto- 
biography he  wrote  almost  three  score  years  later,  he 
happened  to  meet  Washington  in  one  of  the  corridors  of 
Nassau  Hall.  The  General  stopped  him  and  congratu- 
lated him  on  his  oration,  and  after  a  few  minutes'  conver- 
sation left  him  the  flattered  bearer  of  words  of  well-wish- 
ing to  his  classmates. 

The  trustees  of  the  college  at  no  time  took  any  official 
notice  of  the  presence  of  Congress  at  Princeton ;  but  they 
not  could  repress  their  enthusiasm  for  the  Commander  in 
Chief,  and  on  returning  from  the  Commencement  exercises 
they  sought  to  testify  to  their  respect  for  him.  They  did 
not  even  offer,  much  less  give,  the  empty  formal  tribute 
of  an  honorary  degree ;  but  in  their  manuscript  minutes 
may  be  read  this  paragraph  : 

' '  The  board  being  desirous  to  give  some  testimony  of 
their  high  respect  for  the  character  of  his  excellency 
general  Washington,  who  has  so  auspiciously  conducted 
the  armies  of  America. 

Resolved,  that  the  Rev*-D"  Witherspoon,  Rodgers  & 
Jones,  be  a  committee  to  wait  upon  his  Excellency  to 
request  him  to  sit  for  his  picture  to  be  taken  by  Mr 
Charles  Wilson  Peale  of  Philadelphia  —  And,  ordered 
that  his  portrait,  when  finished  be  placed  in  the  hall  of 


1 66  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

the  college  in  the  room  of  the  picture  of  the  late  king-  of 
Great  Britain,  which  was  torn  away  by  a  ball  from  the 
american  artillery  in  the  battle  of  Princeton. 

Adjourned  till  to  morrow  morning  9  o'clock. 

25""  day;  the  board  met  according  to  adjournment. 

D'  Witherspoon  reported  that  his  Excellency  Gen^ 
Washington  had  delivered  to  him  fifty  guineas  which  he 
begged  the  trustees  to  accept  as  a  testimony  of  his  respect 
for  the  college. 

Resolved,  that  the  board  accept  it;  &  that  the  same 
committee  who  were  appointed  to  soUicit  his  Excellency'' 
picture,  at  the  same  time  present  to  him  the  thanks  of  the 
board  for  this  instance  of  his  politeness  &  generosity.^ 

No  compliment  could  have  been  more  delicate  and 
tactful  than  this  request.  By  seeking  to  perpetuate  the 
memory  of  its  favorite  hero,  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 
which  had  supported  the  Revolution  so  long  and  so 
loyally,  and  had  suffered  as  no  other  educational  institu- 
tion in  the  land  for  its  championing  the  cause  of  liberty, 
could  not  have  closed  more  felicitously  its  Revolutionary 
service,  sealed  the  recollection  of  those  dark  days,  and 
honored  him  who  had  turned  those  days  into  light.  And 
some  recognition  of  the  debt  he  owed  to  Princeton,  its 
building,  its  president,  its  graduates  and  its  townsmen, 
some  grateful  thought  of  the  pivotal  battle  he  had  won 
on  the  frozen  slopes  hard  by  the  village,  must  have  been 
in  Washington's  mind  when  he  made  his  gift  to  the 
college.^  The  portrait  was  painted  by  Peale,  and  a  year 
later  was  hung  in  the  prayer  halF  in  the  old  gilt  frame 
from  which  George  the  Second  used  to  frown  down  upon 
his  embryo  rebels. 

*  Minutes  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Vol.  i ,  p.  236,  September  24th  and  25th, 

1783- 

^  Washington's  opinion  of  Princeton  may  be  found  in  his  correspondence  with 
his  adopted  son  G.  W.  Parke  Custis  who  was  a  student  there  14  years  later. 

^  "  Mr.  C.  W.  Peale  having  executed  a  portrait  of  his  Excellency  Gen'  Wash- 
ington, according  to  the  order  of  the  board  —  Ordered  that  it  be  hung  up  in  the 
college  Hall  agreeably  to  a  former  resolution."  (Minutes,  Vol.  i,  p.  245,  Sep- 
tember 29th,  1784.)     The  portrait  is  still  in  Nassau  Hall.     See  Frontispiece. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   RESIDENCE   DEBATE 

With  the  ushering  in  of  October  the  time  was  at  hand 
for  the  debate  on  the  selection  of  a  site  for  the  location 
of  a  permanent  national  capital.  The  important  bearing 
of  this  question's  decision  on  the  future  of  the  country 
was  fully  realized ;  and  as  a  preliminary  step  each  State 
had  been  advised  of  the  forthcoming  debate  and  had  been 
requested  to  make  an  offer  of  a  site  for  the  capital  if  it  so 
desired.  It  was  very  plain,  however,  that  the  favored 
spot  would  be  located  either  in  one  of  the  middle-eastern 
or  in  one  of  the  middle-southern  States,  and  between  these 
two  sections  of  the  country  the  rivalry  soon  became  keen. 
The  northern  and  southern  extremes  were  out  of  the 
question ;  the  west  was  unthought  of.  All  summer  long 
only  a  hint  at  the  subject  had  been  needed  to  arouse  a 
heated  discussion  within  the  cool  stone  walls  of  Nassau 
Hall.  Moreover,  the  selection  of  a  permanent  seat  of 
government  obviously  involved  that  of  a  temporary  sub- 
stitute to  be  used  until  the  special  administrative  and 
residential  buildings  which  would  have  to  be  erected  at 
the  permanent  site,  should  be  ready  for  occupancy.  The 
presence  of  Congress,  even  as  a  transient  guest,  meant 
much  in  a  business  way  to  any  place  thus  honored.  To 
Philadelphia,  for  example,  it  was  said  to  have  meant 
$100,000  a  year;  and  at  Princeton  the  President's  House- 
hold alone  gave  to  one  merchant  an  average  of  a  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  business  each  month.  Added  to  the 
business  gain  was  the  social  prestige.  Arguing  then  that 
possession  was  nine  points  of  the  law,  an  advantage  was 
thought  to  be  given  to  whatever  State  should  manage  to 

167 


1 68  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

keep  Congress,  if  only  temporarily.  The  rivalry  for  the 
temporary  residence  was  therefore  as  intense  and  personal 
as  that  for  its  more  important  successor. 

Philadelphia  had  many  supporters,  who  based  her  quali- 
fications on  her  past  record.  Philadelphia  had  been  the 
seat  of  government  six  years  out  of  the  seven  of  that  gov- 
ernment's existence,  and  it  was  fondly  believed  that  if 
Congress  could  be  got  back  for  the  time  being  to  its  old 
quarters,  Pennsylvania  would  be  almost  assured  of  the 
decision  on  a  permanent  capital.  The  expected  arrival 
of  a  Minister  Plenipotentiary  from  Holland,  said  to  be  on 
his  way,  was  urged  as  one  reason  for  a  return  to  Phila- 
delphia. There,  and  there  better  than  anywhere  else,  he 
and  other  foreign  representatives,  who  were  also  thought 
to  be  coming,  could  be  properly  entertained.^  It  was  also 
declared  that  unless  Congress  did  return  to  Philadelphia 
the  Union  was  in  danger  of  dissolution ;  the  great  State  of 
Pennsylvania  would  be  "so  Convulsed  "  that  it  would  not 
be  "in  a  capacity  of  Contributing  to  the  Necessities  of 
the  United  States."  Let  us  go  back  for  only  six  weeks, 
men  said,  to  show  that  no  resentment  is  harbored  against 
the  city,  and  all  will  be  "  Peace  &  Quiet" ;  then  if  Con- 
gress should  remove  from  the  city  '  *  there  would  be  no 
blame  or  uneasiness."*  But  the  opponents  of  Philadel- 
phia were  determined  that  Congress  should  not  return. 
The  Southern  states  voted  solidly  together  on  this  point, 
as  on  nearly  everything  else,  and  the  other  candidates  for 
the  honor  of  Congressional  residence  saw  no  advantage 
to  be  derived  from  tempting  Providence  in  allowing  Con- 
gress to  return  for  any  conciliatory  visit,  were  it  never  so 
short. 

Valiant  attempts  to  get  Congress  back  had  not  been 
wanting.     In  a  previous  chapter  it  has  been  noted  that  on 

^Clinton  MSB.,  5165,  L'Hommedieu  to  Clinton,  August  22d. 
^Ibid.,  5157,  L'Hommedieu  to  Clinton,  August  15th. 


THE   RESIDENCE   DEBATE  169 

July  2d,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  Princeton  session  when 
it  was  learned  that  General  Howe's  detachment  was  on  its 
way  to  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Mercer  had  tried  to  effect  a  return 
to  the  Pennsylvania  capital.    Again,  on  the  last  day  of  that 

month  Mr.  Read  moved  that  "on  the the  president 

shall  adjourn  Congress  to  meet  in  Philadelphia,  on 

there  to  continue  until  the  last  Monday  in  October  next, 
at  which  time  the  president  shall  again  adjourn  Congress 
to  meet  at  Annapolis  on  the  Friday  following,  unless  Con- 
gress shall  before  that  time  have  determined  otherwise." 
This  coming  up  on  August  ist,  Mr.  Bland  moved  to  fill 
the  first  blank  with  "August  8th"  and  the  second  with 
"August  1 2th,  "and  also  to  strike  out  the  clause,  "thereto 
continue  .  .  .  otherwise."  The  clause  was  struck  out, 
and  Mr.  Lee  then  moved,  and  it  was  ordered,  that  Wed- 
nesday the  6th  be  appointed  for  the  consideration  of  the 
amended  motion.  But,  before  the  6th  arrived  the  friends 
of  the  measure,  foreseeing  its  defeat  and  believing  that 
no  great  good  would  result  from  allowing  the  vote  to  go 
on  record,  withdrew  it.  "The  more  moderate  oppo- 
nents," says  Madison,  "  concurred  in  the  inexpediency  of 
proclaiming  unnecessarily  an  aversion  in  Cong*  to  Philad', 
But  some  of  this  class  were  so  keen  in  their  hostility  that 
a  motion  was  made  by  two  of  them  to  return,  who  on  the 
question  voted  solid  ag*  their  own  motion.  The  public 
will  not  I  believe  fix  on  the  proceeding  as  one  of  the 
brightest  pages  of  the  Journals.  The  abuses  to  which 
such  an  artifice  may  be  extended  are  palpable.  The  merit 
of  it  in  this  application  belongs  to  M'.  Howel  of  R.  I.  & 
M'.  B — d  of  V.  The  motion  was  first  made  by  M'.  L.  but  in 
the  course  of  the  transaction  devolved  on  M'.  Howel.  "^ 
The  incident  to  which  Madison  alludes  was  this.  On 
the  nth  Mr.  Howell  seconded  by  Colonel  Bland  moved: 

^  Madison  Papers,  Letters  of  Madison,  Vol.  i,  p.  109,  Madison  to  Randolph, 
August  1 8th.  Gilpin's  Madison  Vol.  i,  p.  565,  Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  9. 
The  letter  as  printed  by  Gilpin  differs  slightly  from  the  above. 


I/O  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

"That  on  the  15"*  Inst.  The  President  adjourn  Con- 
gress to  meet  at  Philadelphia  on  the  21*'  Inst."^  The 
motion  came  up  on  the  13th,  when  Mr.  Reed  attempted 
to  have  it  postponed  in  order  to  consider  a  motion  of  his 
own,  namely : 

Whereas  the  resolution  of  Saturday  the  21"*  day  of 
June  last,  enabling  the  President  to  summon  Congress  to 
meet  at  Trenton  or  Princeton  on  Thursday  then  next  fol- 
lowing, had  for  its  object  that  further  and  more  effectual 
measures  might  be  taken  for  suppressing  the  then  Exist- 
ing revolt  of  certain  troops  of  the  Pennsylvania  line  & 
maintaining  the  dignity  and  Authority  of  the  United 
States:  And  Whereas  it  is  no  longer  found  necessary  or 
Expedient  that  Congress  should  continue  at  Princeton 
Resolved  that  on  friday  the  i  $*'^  Inst  the  President  do 
adjourn  Congress  to  meet  on  Monday  next  the  21"  at  the 
City  of  Philadelphia — And  that  on  the  second  Monday 
in  October  next  the  President  do  in  like  manner  Adjourn 
Congress  to  meet  on  the  monday  following  at  Annapolis 
in  the  State  of  Maryland  unless  Congress  shall  in  the 
meantime  order  otherwise.* 

But  Congress  refused  to  postpone,  and  consideration 
of  Mr.  Howell's  motion  was  continued.  Then  the  dele- 
gates from  Pennsylvania  not  seeing  the  trap  into  which 
they  were  walking  moved  to  postpone  so  that  a  declara- 
tion made  that  morning  by  one  of  their  number  might  be 
entered  on  the  Journal ;  and  the  entry  was  made : 

The  delegates  of  Pennsylvania  are  authorised  by  the 
President  and  Council  of  that  State  to  declare  in  the  most 
respectful  terms  to  Congress  that  their  return  to  Phila- 
delphia is  Sincerely  desired  by  the  President  and  Council 
as  an  Event  which  would  give  them  the  Greatest  Satis- 
faction.^ 

Debate  on  Mr.  Howell's  motion  was  then  resumed 
until  an  adjournment  was  called  for  and  carried.     The 

^  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  36,  Motions,  Vol.  4,  p.  20 1. 

^Journal,  August  13th  and  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  36,  Vol.  2,  p.  209. 

^Journal,  August  13th. 


THE   RESIDENCE   DEBATE  I/I 

next  day  Mr.  Duane  with  Benjamin  Huntington  as  a 
second  endeavored  to  have  consideration  postponed  and 
failed ;  and  when  the  question  was  put  on  the  Howell 
motion,  the  result  was  found  to  be  six  nays  to  two  yeas 
with  one  divided  vote,  while  Foster,  of  New  Hampshire, 
and  David  Howell,  of  Rhode  Island,  the  mover  of  the 
motion,  also  voted  nay,  although  their  votes  did  not  count, 
since  their  States  were  not  constitutionally  represented. 
Of  the  episode  Madison  in  the  letter  to  Randolph 
already  quoted  had  this  further  to  say : 

I  know  of  none  that  will  read  with  pleasure  this  affair 
unless  it  be  the  Executive  of  P*.  and  those  who  wish  to 
refer  the  removal  of  Cong",  to  other  motives  than  the  na- 
tional dignity  &  welfare. 

J.  F.  Mercer  also  referred  to  the  incident  in  plain 
language : 

The  Question  for  the  return  to  Phil"  had  been  decided 
in  the  negative  prior  to  my  arrival  I  must  think  a  worthy 
colleague,  hurried  this  matter  on  with  unbecoming  pre- 
cipitation—  &  I  am  at  a  loss  to  reconcile  with  his  pro- 
fessed, candor  &  openness,  his  making  a  motion  with  an 
intention  of  voting  ag'.  it,  supported  by  M'.  Howell  the 
inventor  of  this  ingenious,  &  honourable  device.^ 

In  vain  did  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  try  to  con- 
ciliate Congress  by  taking  every  step  to  expiate  the  default 
of  its  Executive  save  the  extreme  one  of  impeachment 
which  some  of  the  more  violent  members  of  Congress 
had  demanded.^  In  vain  was  the  public  banquet,  men- 
tioned earlier  in  these  pages,  arranged  for  the  officers  of 
the  army ;  successful  though  it  was  as  a  social  function  it 
failed  utterly  in  its  more  subtle  duty.  In  vain  did  the 
State  offer  to  Congress  the  same  quarters  it  had  formerly 
occupied  in  Philadelphia ;  and  in  vain  were  the  financial 

'  Madison  Papers,  Letters  to  Madison,  Vol.  13,  p.  Ill,  August  14th. 
^  Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  i,  p.  569  ;  Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  16.     Madison 
to  Randolph,  September  8th. 


172  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

recommendations  of  Congress  unanimously  adopted. 
Madison  thought  that  this  very  complaisance  by  its  obvi- 
ousness of  purpose  would  ' '  be  far  from  softening  the  dis- 
like "  entertained  by  many  for  Philadelphia.  He  believed 
that  the  city  would  continue  to  be  "obnoxious  while  it 
contains  and  respects  an  obnoxious  Character.''  ^  On 
September  5th  Dr.  McHenry,  with  Arthur  Lee  seconding 
him,  moved  that  on  Friday  the  12th  a  decision  be  made 
on  a  temporary  residence  for  Congress;  but  the  12th  saw 
no  meeting  and  nothing  tending  toward  a  decision  is  to 
be  found  in  the  Journal  until  October.  The  subject  of 
jurisdiction  came  up  instead ;  and  Madison  who  had  post- 
poned his  return  to  Virginia  partly  on  account  of  his  inter- 
est in  the  residence  debate  admitted  to  Thomas  Jefferson 
that  he  doubted  if  either  the  permanent  or  temporary 
residence  would  be  selected  that  winter ;  in  which  case  of 
course  Congress  would  remain  at  Princeton.* 

The  question  as  to  what  jurisdiction  Congress  should 
exercise  over  a  federal  residence  had  been  relegated  to  a 
committee  in  July.  On  the  28th  of  that  month  Madison 
had  written  to  Randolph  informing  him  of  the  fact  and 
pointing  out  the  constitutional  perplexities  that  entered 
into  its  consideration.  The  more  the  subject  was  viewed 
the  less  easy,  said  he,  did  it  become  to  mark  the  just 
boundary  between  the  authority  of  Congress  and  that  of 
the  State,  and  between  the  authority  of  Congress  and  the 
privileges  of  the  citizens  of  the  State.  "  May  it  not  also 
be  made  a  question  "  he  asks  "  whether,  in  constitutional 
strictness,  the  gift  of  any  State,  without  the  concurrence 
of  all  the  rest,  can  authorize  Congress  to  exercise  any 
powers  not  delegated  by  the  Confederation,  —  as  Con- 
gress, it  would  seem,  are  incompetent  to  every  act  not 

^Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  i,  p.  568  ;  Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  13.  Madison 
to  Randolph,  August  30th. 

*  Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  I,  p.  572  ;  Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  19.  Madison 
to  Jefferson,  September  20th. 


THE   RESIDENCE   DEBATE  1 73 

warranted  by  that  instrument,  or  some  other  flowing  from 
the  same  source."  ^ 

The  committee  which  had  this  matter  under  investiga- 
tion was  composed  of  seven  members,  Duane,  Read,  Mc- 
Henry,  Huntington,  Peters,  Wilson  and  Madison.  On 
September  i8th  they  reported  that  two  points  had  seemed 
to  require  their  consideration ;  first,  the  extent  of  the 
district  necessary  for  the  proposed  federal  residence,  and 
second,  the  powers  to  be  exercised  by  Congress  in  that 
district.  They  therefore  moved  in  the  first  place  that  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled  ought  to  enjoy  ex- 
clusive jurisdiction  over  the  district  ceded  and  accepted 
for  the  site  of  a  permanent  residence ;  and  in  the  second 
place  that  the  district  so  ceded  and  accepted  ought  not  to 
exceed  six,  nor  fall  short  of  three,  square  miles  in  extent.' 
September  226.  was  assigned  for  consideration  of  this 
report,  and  on  that  date  it  was  referred  to  a  committee 
of  the  whole  to  sit  on  Thursday  the  twenty-fifth.  After 
spending  some  time  in  its  discussion,  no  details  of  which 
have  revealed  themselves  to  long  search,  the  chairman, 
Mr.  Carroll,  reported  progress  and  desired  leave  for  the 
committee  to  sit  again  on  the  twenty -sixth.  The  Journal 
does  not  mention  any  further  debate  on  the  question,  but 
among  the  reports  of  the  committees  of  the  Continental 
Congress  are  at  least  two  undated  and  unendorsed  docu- 
ments bearing  what  cannot  be  other  than  resolutions  on 
the  jurisdiction  question.     The  first  reads : 

That  the  State  or  States  ceding  the  territory  in  which  ■ 
Congress  shall  determine  to  fix  their  permanent  residence, 
should  give  up  all  jurisdiction  whatsoever,  over  the  terri- 
tory so  ceded,  &  the  People  inhabiting  therein. 

Res*^'  That  the  appointment  of  Judges  &  the  executive 
power  within  the  said  territory,  should  vest  in  Congress. 

1  Madison  to  Randolph,  July  28th.    Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  i,  p.  559  ;  Hunt's 
Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  4. 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  23,  p.  149. 


174  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

Res^  that  the  People  inhabiting  within  the  said  terri- 
torry,  should  enjoy  the  privilege  of  trial  by  Jury,  &  of 
being  governed  by  Laws  made  by  Representatives  of  their 
own  election.^ 

The  second  is  as  follows : 

That  the  district  which  may  be  ceded  to  &  accepted  by 
Congress  for  their  permanent  residence,  ought  to  be  en- 
tirely exempted  from  the  authority  of  the  State  ceding 
the  same ;  and  the  organization  &  administration  of  the 
powers  of  Gov*  within  the  s*^  district  concentrated  be- 
tween Congress  &  the  inhabitants  thereof.^ 

The  first  of  these  documents  was  evidently  considered 
by  Bancroft^  to  be  the  adopted  report  of  the  committee 
of  the  whole,  although  the  references  to  Madison's  cor- 
respondence cited  by  him  in  his  footnote  offer  no  support 
of  his  opinion.  The  documents  themselves  bear  no  iden- 
tifying marks  and  the  phraseology  of  the  sentence  refer- 
ring to  jurisdiction  in  Mr.  Gerry's  residence  motion  of 
October  7th  would  seem  to  show  that  Congress  had  not 
settled  the  question  before  the  residence  debate  began. 

On  October  6th  according  to  agreement  the  debate  on 
the  permanent  residence  opened  with  eleven  States  form- 
ally present,  while  New  Hampshire  showed  but  one  rep- 
resentative and  Georgia  as  usual  none.  In  order  to  con- 
fine the  discussion  within  reasonable  limits  Mr.  Gerry, 
with  Mr.  Holten  seconding,  moved  that  the  house  go 
into  committee  of  the  whole  to  consider  the  propositions 
of  only  the  States  from  New  York  to  Virginia  inclusive. 
This  was  negatived.  Then  he  moved  with  Mr.  Foster 
seconding  that  the  whole  discussion  be  postponed,  which 
motion  was  also  negatived,  as  was  its  successor  by  Mr. 
Howell,  with  EUery  seconding,  that  the  discussion  be 
postponed  until  the  last  Monday  of  the  month.     It  was 

'Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  46,  p.  93. 
^Ibid.,  23,  p.  161. 
>Vol.  6,  p.  98. 


THE   RESIDENCE   DEBATE  1 75 

then  resolved  to  go  down  the  list  of  States  in  the  order 
in  which  they  stood  beginning  with  New  Hampshire. 

New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  were  declined  as 
candidates  without  even  a  call  for  yea  and  nay  votes,  and 
Rhode  Island  received  only  the  vote  of  her  own  repre- 
sentatives. Connecticut  also  was  rejected  without  hesi- 
tation and  without  a  yea  and  nay  vote.  New  York^  had 
to  be  content  with  the  votes  of  her  own  representatives 
and  those  of  Connecticut,  with  half  a  vote  from  Rhode 
Island,  Mr.  EUery  being  satisfied  with  New  York  as  a 
residence. 

New  Jersey  received  the  votes  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut,  beside  those  of  her  three  repre- 
sentatives, Mr.  Boudinot  himself  calling  for  the  yeas  and 
nays.^ 

^  On  March  20th,  1783,  Governor  Clinton  had  sent  to  President  Boudinot  the  act 
of  the  corporation  of  Kingston  on  the  Hudson,  and  the  joint  resolution  of  both 
houses  of  the  Legislature  respecting  a  permanent  residence  of  Congress  in  that 
township,  offering  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  the  district  and  enclosing  a  map  of 
the  same,     (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  46,  p.  i.) 

Lewis  Morris  had  offered  the  manor  of  Morrisania,  N.  Y.,  for  permanent  resi- 
dence and  his  memorial  is  dated  September  30th.  It  was  delayed  on  the  road 
and  did  not  reach  Congress  until  October  i8th.  (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  46,  p.  125,  and 
78,  Vol.  14,  p.  547.) 

*  Four  different  offers  had  come  from  New  Jersey.  On  June  19th  Ephraim 
Harris,  Speaker  of  the  New  Jersey  Assembly,  had  forwarded  to  president  Boudinot 
the  resolution  of  the  Legislature  asking  Congress  to  make  its  permanent  residence 
in  New  Jersey  and  also  enclosing  the  proceedings  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town- 
ship of  Nottingham  in  the  county  of  Burlington  relative  thereto,  and  a  map.  ( Pap. 
Cont.  Cong.,  46,  p.  35.)  On  July  i6th  had  been  read  the  Newark  address  which 
has  already  come  under  our  notice.  On  August  4th  the  inhabitants  of  New  Bruns- 
wick and  vicinity  drew  up  an  address  modestly  suggesting  "  the  Banks  of  the 
Raritan,  as  not  being  unworthy  of  their  Attention"  (i.  ^.,  of  Congress)  for  the 
site  of  a  permanent  residence.  The  authors  of  the  address  *'  forbear  to  describe 
the  place,  or  to  enumerate  its  Advantages  .  .  .  Let  the  Place  speak  for  itself ;  Let 
Impartial  men  declare  its  Beauties  and  point  out  its  defects ;  Your  Addressers 
wish  to  be  silent  on  the  occasion."  Whatever  jurisdiction  Congress  might  think 
proper  to  require  would  be  agreed  to.  A  committee  composed  of  Azariah  Dun- 
ham, chairman  of  the  meeting,  Moses  Scott,  John  Taylor,  John  Neilson,  Frederick 
Frelinghuysen  and  William  Paterson  brought  the  address  to  Princeton  and  pre- 
sented it  on  August  5th,    It  was  referred  to  Messrs,  Higginson,  Clark  and  Read  on 


1/6  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

Pennsylvania  ^  met  with  a  solid  phalanx  of  nays,  Mr. 
Read  of  South  Carolina  being  the  only  member  not  from 

August  I  Ith,  and  on  their  report  the  next  day  the  President  was  directed  to  thank  the 
inhabitants  of  New  Brunswick  for  their  congratulations  and  their  patriotic  senti- 
ments. But  nothing  was  said  about  residence  ' '  on  the  Banks  of  the  Raritan. ' '  ( Ibid. , 
46,  pp.  95  and  99,  and  20,  Vol.  2.  p.  290. )  On  August  23d  General  Elias  Day- 
ton enclosed  to  President  Boudinot  the  resolves  of  the  magistrates  and  inhabitants 
of  Elizabethtown  offering  that  place  and  a  hundred  acres,  with  absolute  jurisdic- 
tion, for  a  permanent  residence.  In  any  case,  no  town,  said  they,  would  "  be 
better  prepared,  &  more  active  to  resent  the  least  insult  that  may  be  offered  to  that 
honorable  body."  [Ibid.,  46,  pp.  103  and  109. )  This  was  read  in  Congress  on 
the  25th  and  referred  to  Messrs.  Duane,  Wilson,  Read,  McHenry,  and  Madison. 
Their  report  was  delivered  September  loth,  and  President  Boudinot  was  instructed 
to  inform  General  Dayton  "  that  Congress  entertained  a  just  sense  of  the  affection- 
ate address  of  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Township  of  Elizabeth."  {^Ibid.,  46,  p. 
107.)  The  continuation  of  the  sentence  was  struck  out:  "and  their  generous 
Invitation  to  make  the  Borough  of  Elizabeth  the  future  residence  of  Congress. 
And  highly  applaud  the  readiness  and  pleasure  with  which  the  Inhabitants  of 
Elizabeth  profess  themselves  prepared  to  submit  to  such  Jurisdiction  as  may  be  Nec- 
essary to  be  established  for  the  Effectual  Support  of  the  Honour  Dignity  Indepen- 
dence and  Constitutional  Authority  of  the  Supreme  head  of  the  American  Union." 

Although  no  formal  offer  of  a  site  for  a  permanent  residence  was  made  by  the 
inhabitants  of  Princeton,  yet  it  was  not  altogether  unthought  of.  A  slight  but 
significant  indication  is  the  fact  that  the  qualifying  words  "during  the  present 
tumult ' '  are  struck  out  of  the  June  26th  address  to  Congress.  Colonel  Morgan,  it 
will  be  remembered,  stated  that  two  or  three  hundred  acres  were  open  to  the  valu- 
ation of  Congress  and  building  materials  and  workmen  were  obtainable  at  short 
notice  if  Congress  desired  to  build.  The  trend  of  President  Boudinot' s  mind  may 
be  discerned  from  his  remark  to  his  brother  in  the  letter  of  June  23d  already  quoted, 
in  which  he  asks  for  the  troop  of  horse  and  then  says  :  "I  wish  Jersey  to  show 
her  readiness  on  this  occasion  as  it  may  fix  Congress  as  to  their  permanent  resi- 
dence." And  finally  David  Howell  writing  from  Princeton  on  August  24th  to 
Moses  Brown  and  referring  to  the  permanent  residence  question,  says:  "There 
are  some  considerations  of  weight  in  favour  of  this  State  &  even  of  this  Spot.  It 
is  nearly  in  the  Center  of  the  population  &  wealth  of  the  U.  S.  This  is  a  small 
State  &  therefore  its  influence  is  not  to  be  feared.  It  will  never  be  a  very  wealthy 
State,  not  being  calculated  for  commerce ;  it  may  therefore  preserve  the  purity  of 
its  manners  as  long  as  any ;  &  even  its  Liberty ;  for  corruption  follows  luxury,  & 
Luxury  Wealth."  (Rhode  Island  Hist.  Soc.,  Moses  Brown  Papers,  Vol.  4,  Doc. 
1053,  p.  55. )  In  January,  1784,  George  Davis  of  Trenton  sent  to  Congress  a  de- 
scription of  his  two  farms  at  Maidenhead,  thinking  that  they  might  be  desirable  to 
members  when  Congress  should  be  sitting  at  Trenton.  (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  78, 
Vol.  8,  pp.  51,55.) 

*  The  offer  of  the  citizens  of  Germantown  was  dated  September  4th  and  was 
signed  by  over  400  persons  inviting  Congress  "  to  establish  the  grand  council  of 


THE    RESIDENCE    DEBATE  1 77 

Pennsylvania  to  vote  in  favor  of  that  State,  As  for  Dela- 
ware, Messrs.  Bedford  and  Tilton  of  that  State  voted  aye 
and  Rhode  Island,  Maryland  and  South  Carolina  were 
divided,  but  every  other  State  cast  a  negative  ballot. 
Maryland  received  only  the  votes  of  the  four  southern 
States.^ 

Virginia  received  the  divided  votes  of  South  Carolina 
and  Massachusetts,  besides  those  of  her  own  five  repre- 
sentatives. Read  of  South  Carolina  and  Gerry  of  Massa- 
chusetts voting  with  them.* 

the  Nation  "  in  their  midst.  It  was  hardly  necessary  they  said  to  mention  "  the 
beautiful  Situation,  salubrious  Air,  excellent  Water,  plentiful  Market,  extensive 
Pastures,  fertile  Soil  and  Contiguity  to  one  of  the  most  flourishing  commercial 
Cities  in  the  Union  :  "  they  would  therefore  only  say  that  if  Congress  would  come 
"  there  is  a  commodious  public  Building  which  contains  ample  Room  for  their 
Meetings  and  convenient  Apartments  for  the  public  Officers  at  their  immediate  Ser- 
vice, until  more  suitable  Edifices  can  be  erected  for  which  Purpose  the  most  agree- 
able Spots  may  be  procured  ' '  ;  and  they  further  stated  that  there  were  a  number 
of  houses,  "  some  of  them  not  ineligant  "  at  the  disposal  of  the  members,  and  pri- 
vate families  also  which  would  "  do  all  in  their  Power  to  supply  any  Deficiency 
that  may  arise  from  the  want  of  entire  Houses."  This  document  was  read  in 
Congress  on  September  nth  and  tabled,     (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  46,  p.  117.) 

^  On  May  30th  a  certified  copy  of  the  act  of  the  Maryland  Legislature  oflfering 
Annapolis  as  a  permanent  residence  had  been  sent  to  Congress  in  a  joint  letter  from 
the  president  of  the  State  Senate  and  the  speaker  of  the  House  together  with  the 
act  of  the  corporation  of  Annapolis  dated  May  12th.  (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  46,  pp. 
15,  31. )  On  November  loth,  after  the  residence  debate  was  over.  Congress  received 
an  offer  from  the  commissioners  of  the  town  of  Charlestown  at  the  head  of  the 
Chesapeake.  Deference  to  the  Legislature's  decision  to  offer  Annapolis  as  the 
federal  residence  had  led  them  to  keep  silent ;  but  now  that  Annapolis  had  been 
declined  and  two  residences  had  been  chosen  more  or  less  conditionally,  the  com- 
missioners begged  to  offer  Charlestown,  and  to  "  express  their  own  and  the  Desire 
of  Many  that  only  one  Foederal  Town  be  built."  Charlestown  was  centrally 
located  between  the  two  chosen  places  ;  Congress  passing  through  to  Annapolis 
might  perhaps  examine  the  site  "before  a  Resolve  of  such  vast  Consequence  to 
their  Constituents  and  their  Posterity  be  carried  into  Execution,"  The  document 
is  signed  by  David  L.  Corbet,  David  Smith,  Nathan  Norton,  Dieterick  Heiss, 
and  Edward  Beazley.    {Ibid.,  78,  Vol.  6,  p.  219.) 

^June  28th  the  Legislature  of  the  State  offered  the  city  of  Williamsburg  as  a 
permanent  residence  and  if  Congress  would  decide  to  accept,  a  tender  was  also 
made  of  "  the  Palace,  the  Capitol  and  all  the  public  buildings  and  three  hundred 
Acres  of  land  adjoining  the  said  city  together  with  a  Sum  of  money  not  exceeding 

12 


178  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

The  two  Carolinas  with  Georgia,  which  was  unrepre- 
sented by  even  a  single  delegate,  were  negatived  without 
delay  and  it  was  then  resolved  to  make  the  residence 
question  the  order  of  the  day  for  tomorrow.  On  Tues- 
day, the  7th,  an  interruption  was  caused  by  the  arrival 
of  a  deputation  from  the  yearly  meeting  of  the  Quakers 
of  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and  Delaware  and  the 
western  part  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  who  craved  per- 
mission to  present  an  address  to  Congress.  It  was  agreed 
that  the  address  be  received  the  next  day  at  noon  and  the 
residence  debate  went  merrily  on.  To  Mr.  Gerry  belongs 
the  honor  of  making  the  first  officially  recorded  mention 
of  the  present  site  of  the  national  capital.  He  moved 
that  the  buildings  for  the  use  of  Congress  be  erected  on 
the  banks  of  the  Delaware  near  Trenton  or  of  the  Poto- 
mac near  Georgetown,  provided  a  suitable  district  could 
be  procured  for  a  federal  town  and  that  the  right  of  soil 
and  such  other  jurisdiction  as  Congress  should  direct 
should  be  vested  in  the  United  States.  Gunning  Bed- 
ford moved  to  strike  out  the  names  of  the  towns  men- 
tioned and  on  a  yea  and  nay  vote  managed  to  carry  his 
point.  Mr.  Duane,  not  content  with  New  York's  experi- 
ence of  the  day  before,  then  moved  to  have  the  Hudson 
added  to  the  fluminary  candidates,  but  his  State  was  alone 
in  favoring  the  proposition.  Mr.  Carroll  then  endeavored 
to  have  the  amended  motion  postponed  in  order  to  con- 
sider the  following :  ' '  That  Congress  do  on  behalf  of  the 
United  States  accept  the  offer  made  by  the  legislature  of 
the  State  of  Maryland  by  their  act  of for  the  residence 

one  hundred  thousand  pounds  this  States  Currency  to  be  paid  at  five  annual  In- 
stallments and  to  be  expended  in  erecting  thirteen  Hotels  for  the  Use  of  the  Deli- 
gates  in  Congress. ' '  A  territory  of  five  miles  square  was  also  offered  and  entire 
jurisdiction.  (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  46,  p.  55.)  This  munificent  offer  was  read  in 
Congress  on  July  i6th  and  a  week  later  the  proceedings  of  the  inhabitants  of  Wil- 
liamsburg relative  to  Congressional  jurisdiction  were  also  read  and  were  pigeon- 
holed by  Messrs.  Duane,  Wilson,  Read,  McHenry  and  Madison.  {Ibid.,  46, 
p.  89.) 


THE   RESIDENCE   DEBATE  1 79 

of  Congress."  But  on  the  postponement  Maryland  alone 
voted  on  the  affirmative,  with  Connecticut,  Delaware  and 
South  Carolina  divided.  The  main  question  —  that  build- 
ings be  erected  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  or  the  Poto- 
mac—  was  then  carried,  and  the  battlefield  was  narrowed 
down. 

Against  heavy  odds  the  southern  members  argued  for 
the  Potomac.  They  declared  that  geographically  the 
centre  of  the  United  States,  viewed  lengthwise,  was  at 
least  as  far  south  as  Georgetown,  and  viewed  breadth- 
wise it  was  actually  a  hundred  miles  south  of  George- 
town ;  government  should  look  to  the  future  and  bear  in 
mind  the  numerous  States  that  would  of  necessity  rise  out 
of  the  western  territory ;  already  population  was  300,000 
larger  south  of  the  Delaware  than  northeast  of  it,  and  it 
was  daily  increasing  southward ;  as  for  the  climate,  it 
was  very  good  as  far  as  the  falls  of  the  Potomac,  and  any- 
way "  none  of  us  was  to  expect  personal  immortality  on 
the  Globe ;  "  the  dignity  and  duration  of  the  United  States 
would  depend  on  its  regard  for  justice  and  equality,  and 
the  southern  States  had  a  right  to  this  consideration ; 
and  finally,  if  unwisely  or  for  selfish  reasons  the  federal 
city  were  erected  in  a  corner  of  the  country,  posterity 
would  laugh  at  it  and  soon  desert  it.^  But  these  argu- 
ments were  not  sufficiently  convincing,  although  for  a 
time  it  looked  as  if  they  had  won  over  their  opponents ; ' 
and  when  at  length  the  Delaware  site  was  put  to  vote 
the  result  stood  seven  to  four  in  its  favor.  New  Hamp- 
shire's ballot,  cast  by  Mr.  Foster  for  the  affirmative, 
being  uncounted.  The  four  negatives  came  from  Mary- 
land, Virginia  and  the  two  Carolinas. 

'N.  C.  State  Records,  Vol.  16,  p.  909.  It  is  an  interesting  and  pertinent  fact 
that  the  Census  records  show  the  centre  of  population  has  scarcely  moved  from  the 
latitude  then  claimed. 

'Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  I,  p.  576.  Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  24.  Madi- 
son to  Randolph,  October  13th. 


l8o  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

Thus  after  an  unexpectedly  short  debate  of  two  days 
it  was  decided  that  the  federal  city  should  be  located  on 
the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  and  when  Mr.  Bedford  had 
offered  the  motion  that  Wilmington  be  the  honored  spot, 
and  had  received  the  votes  of  Maryland  and  South  Caro- 
lina alone,  it  was  resolved  that  the  site  be  near  the  falls 
at  Trenton,  and  a  committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  Gerry, 
Huntington,  Peters,  Duane  and  Clarke  was  appointed  to 
visit  the  falls,  inspect  the  country  in  its  neighborhood, 
and  report  a  district  suitable  for  carrying  into  effect  the 
wishes  of  the  majority.  And  it  was  then  agreed  that  the 
temporary  residence  of  Congress  be  the  order  of  the  day 
for  to-morrow. 

The  result  of  the  debate  hit  the  southern  members  hard, 
and  the  next  morning,  October  8th,  Hugh  Williamson  of 
North  Carolina,  supported  by  Read  of  the  sister  State, 
moved  to  reconsider  the  vote  in  order  to  choose  some 
more  central  locality  "more  favorable  to  the  union,"  and 
which  would  "approach  nearer  to  that  justice  which  is 
the  due  to  the  southern  states."  But  the  eastern  and 
middle  States  voted  him  down.  Five  were  for  and  six 
against  reconsideration.  North  Carolina  claimed  a  par- 
tial victory  in  the  gain  of  one  vote  over  the  result  of  the 
vote  on  the  residence  question.  As  her  delegates  wrote 
to  Governor  Martin,  <  *  though  in  this  attempt  we  failed 
of  a  revisal  and  repeal  of  a  vote,  it  is  clear  that  we  injured 
the  foundation."^  But  as  the  odd  State  that  voted  for  a 
reconsideration  was  Delaware  itself,  the  explanation  may 
be  found  most  probably  in  the  courtesy  of  her  two  repre- 
sentatives. Gunning  Bedford  and  James  Tilton. 

Whether  the  temporary  residence  was  discussed  or 
not  on  the  8th  the  Journal  does  not  reveal.  No  allu- 
sion to  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  record  of  that  day's  busi- 
ness.    At  noon  the  sober  garb  and  kindly  mien  of  the 

>N.  C.  State  Records,  Vol.  i6,  p.  908. 


THE    RESIDENCE   DEBATE  l8l 

deputation  of  Quakers  appointed  to  attend  at  that  hour 
cleared  the  atmosphere  and  breathed  peace  over  the 
troubled  company.  The  humane  memorial  which  they 
presented  was  the  perennial  prayer  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery.  The  document  is  a  beautifully  preserved  manu- 
script of  two  large  folio  leaves.  The  text  occupies  about 
three  quarters  of  the  first  leaf  recto,  and  the  rest  of  the 
document  is  crowded  with  signatures  arranged  in  four 
columns,  five  hundred  and  thirty-five  signatures  in  all. 
The  memorial  is  as  follows : 

To  THE  United  States  in  Congress  assembled 
The  Address  of  the  People  called  Quakers. 

Being  through  the  favour  of  Divine  Providence  met  as 
usual  at  this  season  in  our  annual  Assembly  to  promote 
the  cause  of  Piety  and  Virtue ;  We  find  with  great  satis- 
faction our  well  meant  endeavours  for  the  relief  of  an  op- 
pressed part  of  our  fellow  Men  have  been  so  far  blessed, 
that  those  of  them  who  have  been  held  in  bondage  by 
Members  of  our  Religious  Society  are  generally  restored 
to  freedom,  their  natural  and  just  right. 

Commiserating  the  afflicted  State  into  which  the  In- 
habitants of  Africa  are  very  deeply  involved  by  many 
Professors  of  the  mild  and  benign  doctrines  of  the 
Gospel,  and  afflicted  with  a  sincere  concern  for  the  essen- 
tial Good  of  our  Country,  We  conceive  it  our  indispen- 
sible  duty  to  revive  the  lamentable  grievance  of  that 
oppressed  people  in  your  view  as  an  interesting  subject 
evidently  claiming  the  serious  attention  of  those  who  are 
entrusted  with  the  powers  of  Government,  as  Guardians 
of  the  common  rights  of  Mankind,  and  advocates  of 
liberty. 

We  have  long  beheld  with  sorrow  the  complicated  evils 
produced  by  an  unrighteous  commerce  which  subjects 
many  thousands  of  the  human  species  to  the  deplorable 
State  of  Slavery. 

The  Restoration  of  Peace  and  restraint  to  the  effusion 
of  human  Blood  we  are  persuaded  excite  in  the  minds  of 
many  of  all  Christian  denominations,  gratitude  and  thank- 


1 82  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS   AT    PRINCETON 

fulness  to  the  all  wise  Controuler  of  human  events ;  but 
we  have  grounds  to  fear,  that  some  forgetful  of  the  days 
of  Distress  are  prompted  from  avaricious  motives  to  renew 
the  iniquitous  trade  for  Slaves  to  the  African  Coasts,  con- 
trary to  every  humane  and  righteous  consideration,  and 
in  opposition  to  the  solemn  declarations  often  repeated 
in  favour  of  universal  liberty,  thereby  increasing  the  too 
general  torrent  of  Corruption  and  licentiousness,  and  lay- 
ing a  foundation  for  future  Calamities. 

We  therefore  earnestly  solicit  your  Christian  inter- 
position to  discourage  and  prevent  so  obvious  an  Evil, 
in  such  manner  as  under  the  influence  of  Divine  Wisdom 
you  shall  see  meet.  — 

Signed  in  and  on  behalf  of  our  Yearly  Meeting  held  in 
Philadelphia  for  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  Dela- 
ware, and  the  Western  parts  of  Maryland  and  Virginia 
dated  the  fourth  day  of  the  Tenth  Month,  1783,^ 

On  Friday  the  tenth  the  order  of  the  day  being  called 
for  the  temporary  residence  question  came  up  for  con- 
sideration, and  Mr.  Bedford,  seconded  by  Mr.  Mercer, 
moved  "  That  for  the  more  convenient  transaction  of  the 
business  of  the  United  States  and  accommodation  of  Con- 
gress, it  is  expedient  for  them  to  adjourn  from  their  present 
residence."^  Mr.  Gerry,  however,  thought  that  busi- 
ness could  be  transacted  in  Princeton  as  conveniently  as 
elsewhere,  and  moved  to  strike  out  the  "  transaction  " 
clause,  thus  making  the  proposed  removal  a  matter  of 
accommodation  only.  But  he  secured  only  the  votes  of 
Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  with  a  divided  vote 
from  New  Jersey,  Mr.  Condict  of  the  latter  State  evi- 
dently agreeing  with  him,  and  the  clause  stood.  On  the 
main  question  there  were  eight  yeas  to  the  three  nays 
of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut,  New 
Hampshire  casting  her  solitary  and  useless  vote  also  with 
the  negative. 

'  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  43,  p.  337.  The  indorsement  informs  us  that  the  memorial 
lay  on  the  table  until  December  i8th,  1783,  when  it  was  referred  to  Messrs. 
Howell,  Lee  and  Osgood.     For  the  list  of  signatures  see  Appendix  II. 

*  Journal,  October  loth. 


THE   RESIDENCE   DEBATE  1 83 

Mr.  Williamson  then  proposed  that  on  the  last  Thurs- 
day of  the  month  (October  30th)  Congress  adjourn  to 
meet  at  Philadelphia  on  the  following  Saturday  (Novem- 
ber ist)  to  sit  for  the  dispatch  of  public  business  until  the 
first  Monday  of  June,  1784,  at  which  time  the  president 
should  adjourn  Congress  to  meet  at  Trenton  on  the  Wed- 
nesday following.  Mr.  Duane  endeavored  to  amend  by 
substituting  Trenton  for  Philadelphia  in  the  first  part  of 
the  motion  and  by  striking  out  everything  after  the  word 
"  business."  The  amendment  was  lost,  the  votes  thereon 
being  divided,  as  Madison  remarked,  by  the  river  Dela- 
ware. The  main  question,  and  the  old  one,  of  returning 
to  Philadelphia  then  came  up,  and  judging  from  Madi- 
son's letter  to  Randolph  on  October  I3th^  was  warmly 
debated. 

Philadelphia's  proximity  to  Trenton,  the  newly  chosen 
permanent  residence,  and  its  superior  accommodations 
were  adduced  as  arguments  in  its  favor  as  the  abode  of 
Congress  until  the  necessary  buildings  at  Trenton  should 
be  ready  for  occupancy.  If  its  obvious  superiority  in 
two  important  characteristics  were  passed  over,  such  ac- 
tion would  plainly  denote  a  resentment  on  the  part  of 
Congress  which  was  "unworthy  of  a  Sovereign  authority 
ag*.*  a  part  of  its  constituents  which  had  fully  expiated 
any  offense  they  might  have  committed  "  ;  it  might  also 
turn  their  penitence  into  hatred.  The  moral  was  also 
drawn  from  the  adjournment  to  Princeton,  that  removal 
to  a  small  or  distant  place  tended  to  check  the  dispatch 
of  business,  and  there  were  matters  now  before  Congress 
which  the  honor  and  the  interests  of  the  United  States 
required  should  be  settled  as  soon  as  possible. 

On  the  other  hand  the  stock  objections  to  Philadelphia 
were  reiterated  and,  as  the  event  proved,  carried  the  day, 
although  had  the  advocates  of  Philadelphia  been  a  little 

1  Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  i,  p.  576.     Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  24. 


1 84  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

more  lucky  the  vote  would  have  gone  their  way.  As  it 
turned  out  they  secured  but  five  affirmatives,  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina; 
Maryland  and  South  Carolina  were  divided ;  the  rest 
voted  no.  Had  Messrs.  Rutledge  and  Izard,  of  South 
Carolina,  who  favored  Philadelphia,  been  present,  the 
vote  of  that  State  would  have  added  a  sixth  affirmative, 
in  which  case,  says  Madison,  it  was  the  intention  of  New 
Jersey  to  add  a  seventh  and  thus  carry  the  measure.  Dr. 
McHenry  was  responsible  for  the  division  of  Maryland. 
His  zeal  for  Annapolis,  according  to  Madison,  induced 
him  to  persist  in  refusing  to  agree  to  Philadelphia  until 
every  expedient  had  been  tried  in  favor  of  the  Maryland 
residence.  He  therefore  cast  his  lot  with  the  eastern 
aversion  to  the  Quaker  City.  The  debate  thus  closed  for 
the  day  without  any  material  progress. 

On  Saturday  the  nth  Mr.  Ellery  opened  the  discussion 
by  moving  that  Congress  adjourn  on  the  226.  to  meet  at 
Annapolis  on  the  31st,  there  to  remain  until  the  first 
Monday  of  June,  when  the  president  should  adjourn  Con- 
gress to  meet  at  Trenton  on  the  Wednesday  following.* 
Amendments  to  this  motion  struck  out  everything  after 
the  word  "Annapolis"  and  substituted  the  phrase  "for 
the  place  of  their  temporary  residence."  The  question 
thus  amended  was  very  nearly  carried,  six  votes  being 
polled  for  it.  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Virginia  voting  no,  while  South  Carolina  was  divided. 
The  arguments  in  favor  of  Annapolis,  says  Madison,  con- 
sisted of  objections  to  Philadelphia,  and  those  against  An- 
napolis were  chiefly  the  ones  which  favored  Philadelphia.^ 

^  The  delegates  of  Maryland  had  communicated  to  Congress  on  August  27th  a 
letter  dated  the  twenty-second  from  the  Executive  of  the  State  and  the  mayor  of 
Annapolis  offering  their  official  buildings  for  temporary  occupation  by  Congress 
until  a  permanent  site  should  be  chosen  and  prepared  for  use.  (Pap.  Cont.  Cong., 
46,  p.  113.) 

*  Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  i,  p.  576.  Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  24.  Madison 
to  Randolph,  October  13th. 


THE   RESIDENCE   DEBATE  185 

That  Virginia  should  have  voted  against  her  sister 
State  must  have  been  a  sore  disappointment  to  Maryland. 
Arthur  Lee,  and  Colonel  Bland  —  the  latter  was  not  in  his 
place  that  morning  —  favored  Annapolis  because  they  dis- 
liked Philadelphia,  and  moreover  believed  that  the  inter- 
ests of  Virginia  would  be  furthered  by  voting  for  An- 
napolis ;  but  their  three  colleagues,  Madison,  Mercer  and 
Jones  —  the  last  also  was  absent — believed  that  national 
considerations  outweighed  local,  and  that  even  if  the  vote 
for  Trenton  as  a  permanent  residence  should  be  at  any  time 
in  the  future  changed  in  favor  of  Georgetown,  Virginia 
interests  would  be  furthered  by  having  Congress  in  Phila- 
delphia. ' '  They  also  supposed  that  the  concurrence  of  the 
Eastern  States  in  a  temporary  vote  for  Annapolis  to  take 
effect  some  weeks  hence,  was  little  to  be  confided  in  since 
the  arrival  of  a  colleague  to  the  Delegate  from  N.  Ham- 
shire,  would  with  the  accession  of  Pen*,  who  w^  prefer 
Trenton  to  Annapolis  &  be  moreover  stimulated  by  resent- 
ment, would  make  up  seven  States  to  reverse  the  removal 
to  Annapolis."^  Madison  moreover,  not  unmindful  of 
his  ten-foot  room  with  a  six-foot  bedfellow,  felt  that  ex- 
perience had  proven  that  "  in  any  small  place  Cong",  are 
too  dependent  on  Courtesy  &  favor  to  be  exempt  either 
in  their  purses  or  their  sensibility  from  degrading  imposi- 
tions," and  he  tells  Randolph  that  on  the  whole  it  is  most 
probable  that  Philadelphia  would  be  the  winter  abode  of 
Congress. 

But  James  Madison  though  wise  was  a  poor  prophet, 
and  had  not  made  sufficient  allowance  for  the  personal 
equation.  On  Monday  the  1 3th  in  his  absence,  his  col- 
league Mercer  moved  that  Congress  adjourn  on  the  15th 
to  reassemble  on  the  30th  at  Williamsburg  in  Virginia ; 
but  half  of  Rhode  Island's  vote,   besides  the  two  from 

1  Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  i,  p.  578.  Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  26.  Madi- 
son to  Randolph,  October  13th. 


1 86  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

Virginia,  was  all  the  favor  that  the  proposition  won. 
And  there  the  matter  rested  for  the  next  three  days. 
The  deadlock  was  suddenly  to  be  broken  by  an  unex- 
pected move  on  the  part  of  the  southern  delegates  in 
taking  advantage  of  the  unwariness  of  the  representatives 
from  the  Middle  States.  As  introductory  to  this  epi- 
sode, which  scattered  Madison's  prophecy  to  the  winds, 
it  may  be  well  to  quote  a  very  much  disgruntled  letter 
which  President  Boudinot  wrote  to  Robert  Livingston 
after  the  deed  was  done. 

.  .  .  Our  public  affairs  are  Truly  in  a  disagreeable 
situation  —  I  am  heartly  tired  of  my  station  and  rejoice 
at  my  approach  to  obscurity  —  Congress  you  have  doubt- 
less heard,  lately  determined  their  place  of  residence  to 
be  near  the  Falls  of  Delaware. — This  mortified  the 
Southern  Members  so  much,  that  they  have  manoeuvred 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  take  in  the  Eastern  Members  so 
completely  as  to  get  them  (Mr.  Gerry  at  their  head)  to 
conform  entirely  to  their  Views  and  taking  advantage  of 
the  absence  of  Pennsylvania,  Jersey  &  Delaware,  hastily 
passed  a  vote  for  two  places  of  residence  &  fixed  the 
other  at  or  near  George  Town  on  the  Potomac,  and  their 
temporary  residence  alternately  year  about  at  Annap- 
olis &  Trenton  'till  their  buildings  are  erected.  The 
President  is  to  adjourn  Congress  on  the  12*  Nov',  to 
Annapolis.  So  that  we  are  to  be  in  future  wandering 
Stars  And  to  have  our  Aphilion  &  Perihelion  —  I  augur 
great  evil  from  this  Measure  &  cannot  help  thinking  of 
Rome  &  Constantinople.' 

The  facts  were  these.  On  Friday  the  seventeenth  Mr. 
Gerry,  with  Arthur  Lee  seconding,  offered  a  long  reso- 
lution :  as  the  motion  of  the  7th  instant  ordering  build- 
ings to  be  erected  for  a  federal  city  on  the  banks  of  the 
Delaware  did  not  seem  to  meet  with  the  favor  of  a  "re- 
spectable part  of  the  United  States"  inasmuch  as  five 
votes  had  been  polled  in  favor  of  a  reconsideration,  and 

'Lenox  Library,  Livingston  Papers,  1777-99,  ?•  495-     Dated  October  23d. 


Elias   BOUOINOT 


[From  the  engraving  by  A.  B.  Durand  of  Waldo  &'  Jeweit's  painting 
published  in  iSij] 


THE    RESIDENCE   DEBATE  I87 

it  seemed  to  be  impossible  to  get  all  to  agree  on  any  one 
site :  and  as  two  residences  would  be  nearer  justice  to  the 
defeated  party  and  would  be  "productive  of  the  most 
salutary  results  "  by  securing  mutual  confidence  and  pre- 
serving the  balance  of  power,  he  moved  that  buildings 
be  erected  also  at  Georgetown  on  the  Potomac  provided 
a  suitable  district  could  be  obtained. 

Mr.  Clark,  of  New  Jersey,  and  Mr.  Peters,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, perceived  at  once  that  the  importance  of  this  pro- 
position equalled  that  of  the  original  motion  to  select  a 
federal  residence ;  and  deeming  that  it  required  "  special 
and  deliberate  investigation  unconnected  with  any  other 
object,  and  ought  not  to  be  determined  upon  a  motion 
immediately  taken  up,  without  previous  notice  thereof 
given  to  the  States  "  moved  that  its  consideration  be  post- 
poned until  the  first  Monday  of  April,  1784,  and  that 
copies  of  it  be  in  the  meantime  sent  to  all  the  State  Execu- 
tives. This  however  would  have  vitiated  the  efficacy  of 
the  whole  scheme  and  it  was  forthwith  rejected.  Mr. 
Peters,  with  Mr.  Condict,  of  New  Jersey,  then  succeeded 
in  carrying  a  resolution  to  postpone  until  Wednesday, 
October  22d.  But  on  Monday,  the  twentieth,  it  happened 
that  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware  were  rep- 
resented by  one  delegate  each,  and  thus  were  technically 
absent.  This  was  the  chance  desired,  and  a  motion  to 
reconsider  the  postponement  to  Wednesday  was  easily 
passed,  only  one  negative  vote,  that  of  New  York,  being 
tallied  against  it.  The  motion  for  postponement  being 
then  again  put,  the  previous  decision  was  reversed,  the 
sole  vote  recorded  against  it  again  being  New  York's.  It 
is  easy  to  imagine  the  impotent  rage  of  Mr.  Boudinot, 
who  was  gnashing  his  teeth  and  calling  for  the  yeas  and 
nays  at  every  step.  The  Gerry  motion  was  put  before 
the  house  once  more,  and  to  it  Mr.  Gerry  added  an 
amendment   providing   for   the  temporary  residence  of 


1 88  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

Congress  for  equal  periods  of  not  more  than  one  year  nor 
less  than  six  months  at  Trenton  and  Annapolis,  until  the 
buildings  should  be  ready  at  the  two  proposed  federal 
residences,  and  also  for  the  adjournment  of  Congress  on 
the  loth  of  November  to  meet  on  the  25th  at  Annapolis. 
Mr.  Ellery  succeeded  in  getting  the  periods  limited  to  six 
months  each,  and  then  the  entire  limiting  clause  was  struck 
out.  Mr.  Duane,  endeavored  to  stem  the  tide  by  amend- 
ing so  as  to  eliminate  Annapolis,  and  make  Trenton  the 
place  of  temporary  residence  until  the  permanent  seats 
should  be  ready ;  but  he  met  with  a  storm  of  nays  and 
Annapolis  stayed  in.  The  amendment  as  amended  was 
then  put,  but  failed  by  one  vote  to  pass,  Mr.  Ellery,  of 
Rhode  Island,  causing  a  division  in  the  vote  of  that  State, 
New  York  of  course  consistently  upholding  the  negative. 
On  Tuesday,  the  21st,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Delaware  still  being  unrepresented,  the  debate  was  con- 
tinued and  Mr.  Ellery  now  brought  forward  another 
amendment,  changing  the  date  of  the  adjournment  from 
the  loth  to  the  12th,  and  of  the  reassembling  at  Annapolis 
from  the  25th  to  the  26th,  and  providing  for  temporary 
residence  at  Trenton  and  Annapolis  in  periods  of  not  more 
than  one  year  nor  less  than  six  months.  This  was  ac- 
cepted by  all  the  States  present  except  New  York,  whose 
members  opposed  the  whole  measure.  A  vote  on  each 
part  of  the  Gerry  motion  being  now  called  for,  the  result 
was  accordingly  found  to  be  seven  votes  to  one  in  favor 
of  erecting  buildings  at  Georgetown  for  a  second  perma- 
nent federal  residence  and  seven  to  one  in  favor  of  the 
temporary  residence  at  Trenton  and  Annapolis. 

"Having  thus  succeeded"  chuckled  Williamson  and 
Hawkins,  ' '  so  far  as  to  remove  Congress  to  the  South- 
ward for  six  months  or  a  year  we  are  not  without  hopes 
that  some  future  Congress  will  prevent  their  return  to  this 
side  of  the  waters  of  Chesapeak."  ^ 

'  N.  C.  State  Records,  Vol.  i6,  p.  909.     Letter  to  Gov.  Martin,  October  24th. 


THE   RESIDENCE   DEBATE  189 

Sir  Guy  Carleton  at  New  York  had  some  mistaken 
comments  to  send  to  Lord  North  in  a  letter  which  con- 
tains this  paragraph  referring  to  Congress : 

Their  late  resolutions  respecting  their  place  of  resi- 
dence have  offended  the  French  Minister  and  Mr.  Morris; 
the  latter  again  talks  of  resigning  his  Office  &  the  former 
says  he  will  not  follow  them  to  Annapolis.  Some  of  the 
Members  think  the  Ministers  absence  would  be  no  great 
misfortune,  as  they  found  his  influence  detrimental  to  the 
public  interest  while  they  resided  at  Philadelphia ;  others 
who  receive  French  subsidies  take  their  tone  on  this  as  on 
most  occasions  from  the  language  of  the  Minister.^ 

The  fact  was  that  Vergennes  ordered  Luzerne  not  to 
go  to  Annapolis  because  the  expense  was  too  great  and 
he  believed  moreover  that  no  business  of  importance 
would  be  transacted  there. ^  As  for  Robert  Morris,  his 
letters  show  that  he  had  been  trying  to  get  quit  of  the 
finances  for  months  past. 

On  October  30th,  Arthur  Lee  moved : 

That  a  Committee  be  appointed  to  repair  to  the  lower 
Falls  of  the  Potomac  to  view  the  situation  of  the  Country 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  same  &  report  a  proper  district  for 
carrying  into  effect  the  resolution  of  the  21st  Oct.' 

On  this  committee  Messrs.  Hawkins,  Gerry,  Carroll, 
Mercer,  and  Williamson  were  appointed,  and  an  order 
was  also  carried  that  the  committee  appointed  on  the 
seventh  to  visit  the  falls  of  the  Delaware  report  as  speedily 
as  possible.* 

'  Lenox  Library,  Bancroft  MSS.,  Eng.  and  Amer.,  1782,  p.  387. 

*  Lenox  Library,  Bancroft  MSS.,  France,  1783-85,  p.  137. 
3  Pap.  Cont.  Cong,,  36,  Vol.  2,  p.  277. 

*  Messrs.  Gerry,  Peters,  Clarke,  Ellery  and  Read  reported  on  December  27th 
that  three  of  their  number  —  the  other  two  not  having  been  notified  of  the 
intended  trip  —  went  to  Trenton  on  November  6th  in  company  with  Captain 
Hutchins,  Geographer  of  the  United  States,  and  viewed  the  ground  near  the  Falls 
of  the  Delaware  from  Howell's  Ferry  to  Lamberton  on  the  Jersey  side  and  from 
opposite  points  on  the  Pennsylvania  shore.     They  selected  two  sites  so  that  Con- 


190  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

Thus  ended  in  a  totally  unexpected  way  the  long  awaited 
debate  on  the  residence  question.  The  expense  and  im- 
practibility  of  the  resulting  decision  did  not  fail  to  attract 
attention.  The  Independent  Gazetteer  of  Philadelphia  in 
its  issue  of  November  ist  expressed  with  delicate  irony  a 
thought  that  must  have  been  lurking  in  many  minds.  It 
is  contained  in  an  innocent-looking  paragraph  to  the  effect 
that : 

Simeon  Woodenleg,  an  old  soldier,  presents  his  best 
respects  to  the  honourable  Congress  and  begs  that  before 
they  fall  to  building  their  two  federal  towns,  which  will 
cost  half  a  million  of  money,  they  would  pay  him  the  45 1. 
15s.  lod.  they  have  owed  him  these  two  years. 

The  double  residence  plan  also  gave  Francis  Hopkin- 
son  a  peg  on  which  to  hang  two  delightful  satires.^  He 
viewed  it  in  the  light  of  a  contribution  to  the  science  of 
mechanics  as  applied  to  politics.  Taking  warning  from 
the  irregularity  of  European  political  systems,  America 
had  invented  a  method  of  regulating  her  affairs  by  con- 
structing a  gigantic  pendulum  ' '  of  which  the  point  of  sus- 
pension is  fixed  somewhere  in  the  orbit  of  the  planet 
Mars,  and  the  Bob  is  composed  of  certain  heterogeneous 
matter  of  great  specific  gravity  called  the  American  Con- 
gress." The  oscillations  of  this  pendulum  were  to  regu- 
late the  thirteen  wheels  of  the  American  machine,  and  for 
the  present  would  take  place  between  Annapolis  and 
Trenton,  a  distance  of  about  180  miles.  By  a  system  of 
checks  and  counterchecks  the  moving  parts  of  this  mar- 

gress  might  give  preference  to  the  State  which  would  offer  the  better  terms  while 
complying  with  the  resolution  respecting  jurisdiction.  The  New  Jersey  site  was 
at  Lamberton  ;  the  Pennsylvania  site  was  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Falls,  beginning  at 
a  hill  near  the  mills  owned  by  Colonels  Wilson  and  Bird  and  extending  a  mile  up 
the  river.  Captain  Hutchins  drew  up  plans  for  the  two  districts  and  with  his 
comments  they  were  submitted  in  connection  with  the  report.  The  plans,  it  may 
be  added,  have  not  been  kept  with  the  manuscript.  (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  23,  p. 
157.) 

^Hopkinson's  Miscellaneous  Essays  (Philadelphia,  1792),  Vol.  i,[pp.  178-193. 


THE    RESIDENCE   DEBATE  I9I 

velous  mechanism  were  so  to  correct  each  other  ' '  that 
th.e  grtdit  desiderata,  viz.,  the  perpetual  motion,  and  the 
discovery  of  longitude,  will  no  longer  puzzle  the  brains 
and  drain  the  purses  of  seekers  in  science."  In  order  to 
aid  foreign  ambassadors  in  keeping  track  of  the  bob 
(whose  movements  were  conceded  to  be  somewhat  erratic), 
a  fund  of  400,000  guineas  was  to  be  raised  in  Europe  for 
levelling  the  roads  between  Annapolis  and  Trenton,  build- 
ing bridges,  and  "erecting  houses  of  residence  in  each  of 
those  towns,  if  those  can  properly  be  called  houses  of 
residence  wherein  the  inhabitants  are  to  have  no  rest." 
It  was  also  suggested  that  the  pendulum  might  be  swung 
in  a  horizontal  circle  instead  of  a  vertical  plane  and  Mr. 
David  Rittenhouse,  the  physicist,  had  been  asked  to 
report  on  the  advantages  or  disadvantages  of  this  scheme. 
The  chief  objection  seemed  to  be  that  a  circular  road 
would  have  to  be  cut  through  mountains  and  forests  for 
the  accommodation  of  ambassadors  and  government 
officers. 

Hopkinson's  second  satire  was  an  alleged  report  of  a 
debate  in  Congress  on  the  relation  of  the  proposed  eques- 
trian statue  of  Washington  to  the  double  residence. 
By  an  act  of  Congress  the  statue  was  to  be  erected  at  the 
permanent  residence,  and  this  seemed  hardly  reconcilable 
with  the  newly  ordered  system  of  peregrination,  until  an 
ingenious  member  submitted  a  very  feasible  plan.  The 
spirit  of  the  act  being  to  place  the  statue  where  Congress 
should  sit,  it  was  obvious  that  nothing  more  was  needed 
**  than  to  adjourn  the  statue  whenever  and  wherever  they 
should  adjourn  the  house,  which  might  easily  be  done  by 
mounting  it  on  wheels."  And  confessing  his  obligation 
to  Trojan  history,  he  proposed  to  have  the  horse  of  the 
statue  built  in  such  a  way  that  it  might  be  made  a  "  most 
convenient  vehicle  to  transport  the  members  themselves, 
with  their  books,  papers,  &c.  from  one  federal  town  to 


192  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

the  other."  The  applause  at  this  brilliant  idea  was 
prolonged  ;  but  another  member  brought  forward  a  still 
better  plan,  namely,  to  have  two  places  of  residence  as 
the  act  of  Congress  required,  but  only  one  federal  town, 
and  to  have  the  latter  built  on  a  platform  which  in  turn 
should  be  supported  on  wheels.  When  moving  day  came 
it  would  be  only  necessary  to  hitch  horses  to  the  platform 
and  start  for  the  other  place  of  residence.  Not  only 
would  expense  in  building  two  towns  be  saved,  but  the 
trouble  of  packing  and  unpacking  would  be  avoided  and 
there  would  need  be  no  interruption  of  public  business, 
"for  the  business  of  the  house  might  be  going  on,  whilst 
the  house  itself  was  going  on"  As  authority  for  the  prac- 
ticability of  the  scheme  its  advocate  quoted  from  ' '  A  Voy- 
age to  the  Moon  "  by  Cyrano  de  Bergerac.  The  excess- 
ive genius  of  the  member  astonished  the  house  and  an 
immediate  adjournment  took  place  in  order  that  the 
scheme  might  be  pondered  over. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END 

The  walls  of  Nassau  Hall  had  not  been  able  to  keep 
reports  of  the  debate  on  residence  from  leaking  out.  It 
had  soon  become  noised  abroad  that  New  Jersey's  lucra- 
tive guests  were  discussing  departure. 

The  news  roused  the  people  of  Trenton  to  vigorous 
effort  and  a  town  meeting  resulted  in  the  following  docu- 
ment: 

Trenton  13  October  1783 
We  whose  Names  are  subscribed  do  engage  that,  if 

Congress  shall  think  fit  to  adjourn  to  this  Place,  we  will 

furnish  the  Accomodations  annexed  to  our  respective 

Names,  and  render  the  same  as  convenient  as  possible. 

Stacy  Potts  his  Dwelling-house  42  by  33  Feet,  two  Stor- 
ies, ten  Rooms,  6  with  Fire-places  —  a  Kitchen  —  and 
Stabling  for  6  Horses. 

Jacob  G.  Bergen  his  Dwelling-house  45  by  42  Feet,  three 
Stories,  11  Rooms,  eight  with  Fire- Places — a  Kitchen 
—  and  stabling  for  12  Horses 

George  Ely  his  Dwelling-house  32  by  18  Feet,  three 
Stories  —  6  Rooms  a  fire-place  in  each  —  a  Kitchen 

Alexander  Chambers  his  Dwelling-house  34  by  26  Feet, 
two  Stories,  7  Rooms,  5  with  Fire-places. 

David  Fick  his  Dwelling-house  40  by  20  Feet,  a  Story 
and  Half,  7  Rooms,  4  with  Fire-places  —  a  Kitchen  — 
Stabling  for  6  Horses  — 

Samuel  Tucker,  Esq.  2  Rooms  with  Fire-places, 

John  Dixon  3  Rooms  with  Fire-places — i  without  — 
Stabling  for  3  Horses 

John  Bell  2  Rooms  with  Fire-places 

John  James  5  Rooms,  3  of  them  with  Fire-places — Sta- 
bling for  8  Horses 

»3  193 


194  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT  PRINCETON 

William  C  Houston  i  Room  with  a  Fire-place. 

Conrad  Kotts  i  Room  with  a  Fire-place  —  cannot  board 

or  lodge  any  Person  —  Stabling  for  6  Horses. 
Isaac  Collins  i  Room  with  a  Fire-place  33  x  17  Feet  for 

an   Office    if    wanted  —  cannot    board    or    lodge   any 

Person  — 
Paul  Atablie  4  Rooms  with  Fire-places  —  cannot  board 

any. 
Isaiah  Yard  3  Rooms  i  with  a  Fire-place  —  Stabling  for 

10  Horses. 
A.  Janney  4  Rooms  with  Fire-places 
Hugh  Runyan  —  Stabling  for  25  Horses 
Peter  Hankinson  3  Rooms,  2  with  Fire-places  —  Stabling 

for  2  Horses 
Joseph  Milnor  2  Rooms  with  Fire-places 
Peter  Crolius  3  Rooms  with  Fire-places  —  will  dine  10 

Persons  if  necessary  — 
Elizabeth  Horton  3  Rooms,    i  with  a  Fire-place  —  will 

dine  6  persons  if  necessary  — 
Mary  Barnes  2  Rooms  with  Fire-places 
Micajah  How  3  Rooms  with  Fire-places 
Job  Moore  i  Room  with  a  Fire-place 
Moore  Furman,  Esq  a  large  office  with  a  Fire-place 
Joseph  Higher  3  Rooms  —  2  with  Fire-places  —  Stabling 

for  4  Horses  —  will  dine  6  Persons  if  requisite 
Benjamin  Smith  i  Room  with  a  Fire-place 
Charity  Britton  —  Stabling  for  12  Horses 
Robert  Quigley  i  room  with  a  Fire-place. 

Four  other  convenient  Rooms  may  be  had  in  or  near 
the  Town  should  they  be  wanted. 

It  is  to  be  understood  that  those  who  furnish  Rooms, 
also  furnish  Boarding,  unless  where  it  is  otherwise  noted. 
When  it  is  not  insisted  on  some  would  wish  to  be  excused 
from  providing  Dinners,  as  Congress  do  not  dine  at 
comon  Family-hours.  Others  would  chuse  to  dine  a 
larger  number  than  they  can  furnish  Rooms  for.  A  room 
43  by  20  Feet,  with  two  Fire-places  can  be  appropriated 
for  the  Meeting  of  Congress  in  one  of  the  Houses  which 
will  be  given  up  —  (Mf  Bergen's.) 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END  1 95 

Besides  these   above-mentioned   a    handsome   House 
about  2  Miles  from  Town  will  be  given  up  if  wanted. 
Good  Hay  in  any  Quantity, 

M.    FURMAN. 

W«  C.  Houston. 
James  Ewing. 
Stacy  Potts. 
Benj?  Smith. 
The  original  signed  by  the  Inhabitants  is  left  in  the 
Hands  of  Moore  Furman,  Esq. 

On  the  back  of  the  document  is  this  further  note  by 
Mr.  Houston: 

Mr  Potts  will  relinquish  any  Part  of  his  Furniture 
which  may  be  wanted. 

If  Mr  Bergen  cannot  obtain  another  House,  he  must 
have  M^  Potts'  He  hopes  to  get  another,  but  is  not  certain 
as  yet 

Mf  Ely  will  spare  Furniture  for  a  small  Family 

Mf  Chambers  the  like. 

Mr  Fick  some  Furniture,  but  supposed  scarce  sufficient 
for  a  Family  — 

If  it  would  be  more  agreeable  that  the  Inhabitants  who 
propose  to  give  up  their  Houses  should  continue  in  them 
and  take  lodgers,  that  will  be  done  as  far  as  half  the  rooms 
at  the  least,  either  to  small  Families,  or  Individuals. — 
It  may  be  that  it  will  not  suit  all  of  them  to  provide 
Dinners. 

Mf  Atablie  will  leave  furniture. 

Upon  careful  Examination  and  Enquiry,  am  of  opinion 
the  foregoing  may  be  depended  on. 

Wf  C.  Houston.' 

At  Princeton  too,  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  was  held  at 
which  was  drawn  up  a  statement  of  accommodations  that 
would  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Congress  if  it  would 
remain  one  year  or  even  through  the  winter.  This  docu- 
ment,^ which  was  written  by  the  energetic  Colonel  Mor- 
gan, was  promptly  delivered  at  Nassau  Hall. 

^Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  78,  Vol.  2,  p.  283.  The  manuscript  is  in  the  writing  of 
W.  C.  Houston. 

'Pap.  Cont.  Cong.  46,  p.  123. 


196 


CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 


Whereas  it  is  represented  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Princeton  &  its  Neighbourhood 
tions,  &  they  being  desirous  to  testify  their  Respect  for  the  supreme  Legislature  of 
agreed  to  furnish  the  best  in  their  Power  as  follows,  for  One  Year,  or  during  the 


Nftincs 

Houses  to  let 

Rooms  with 

Rooms  with 

for  One  Year 

Fire  Places 

out  Chimneys 

The  Rev*  D^  Witherspoon 

I 

Three 

The  Rev*  D'  Smith 

2 

Two 

Rob'  Stockton 

3 

Th??  Stockton 

4 

I 

M^  Moody     y/ 
M^  Skelton     ^ 

\          } 

suitable  for  C 

C»    Moore 

7 

two 

M^  Rock     / 

8 

one 

M'  Sexton 

9 

M'  Vanvorhees 

10 

three 

M'  Kelsey 

II 

two 

M'  M?.Comb 

12 

two 

M'  Harrison 

13 

[three]  two 

one 

M'  Stout 

14 

two 

M'  Beekman 

IS 

two 

M"  Knox     y' 

16 

two 

M'  M«Mechen     -^ 

17 

[one] 

M'  Scot     1/ 

18  Uncertain 

[one] 

M'  Finley     / 

19 

one 

M"  Stockton 

20        The  whole  House  in  which  she  lives  Stables  & 

M'  Johnson 

21                         1             one             1 

M'  Lawrence 

22  The  House  in  which  he  lives,  with  large  Barn, 

M^f  Berrien 

23 

one 

M'  Deare 

24 

Two 

M!?  West 

25 

[two]  One 

M'  Little 

26  If  necessary — 

Two 

M"  Livingston 

27' 

Two 

M"Lott 

28 

Two 

M'  Lott 

29 

one 

Col'  Hyer 

30 

two 

M"-  Hamet     ^ 

31  One  large  w"*  6  Rooms  3  furnish' d  &  a  Stable  & 

M'  Anderson 

32                          1       [two]  One       1 

Mf  [Beaty]  Seabury 

33  One  House,  Stable  &  Coach  House 

Mf  Taylor 

34  Uncertain  but  wishes  to  do  all  he  can 

M''  Longstreet 

35  One  large  House  Stables  &  Coach  Room — 

Col'  Morgan 

36  That  in  w""*  he  lives  Stables  &  Coach  Room — 

M'  Wodruff 

37  That  in  which  the  President  lives  &  Stables. 

Jos.  Olden 

38 

I 

I 

M'  Mollison 

39 

two 

Df  Wiggens 

40 

three 

M""  Hamilton 

41  One  with  7  Rooms  &  a  Kite 

len  Stables  and 

M'  Lawrence 

Two 



Beside  the  above,  several  other  good  Houses  may  be  hired  for  One  Year  but  at  a 
furnish  Dinners  in  as  comfortable  a  Manner  as  they  can  — 

Those  Names  mark'd  thus  y/  do  not  propose  to  take  Members  of  Congress  but 
supply  the  best  of  Wines  at  the  most  reasonable  Rates  — 

Several  Persons  have  taken  Measures  for  building  good  &  large  Houses  in  the 
as  to  be  warm  &  comfortable,  tho'  he  thinks  the  College  Hall  a  much  better  Win- 

From  this  State  it  is  obvious  that  Congress  can  be  conveniently  accommodated 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END 


197 


that  the  Members  of  the  Hon»>.'?  Congress  stand  in  Need  of  further  Accommoda- 
America  &  their  Wishes  for  their  honouring  New  Jersey  with  their  Residence,  have 
"Winter — Viz.  Monday  October  13?  1783. 


Beds  &  Bedding 

Breakfasts 

Ditto  & 

Subles  Horses 

&  Tea- 

Dinners 

at  Hay  &  Oau 

three 

three 

any  Number 

two 

two 

I 

I 

two 

2 

several 

two 

2 

three 

3 

two 

2 

two 

2 

3 

6 

6— 

two 

2 

several 

two 

2 

six 

two 

2 

one] 
one] 

i] 

'ij 

one 

I 

Coach  Room  as  mentioned  to  M'  Hawkins — 

one 

I 

several 

Stables,  &  number  of  out  Houses  w*^  300  Acres  Land,  icx)  whereof  is  Woodland 

to  sell 


two 

2 

two 

two 

2 

4  if  necessary- 

two 

2 

six 

two 

two 

[one]  Two 

two 

two 

2 

one 

I 

two 

SIX — 

Coach  Room — three — Note  this  is  M'  Anderson — 


also  three  suitable  for  Offices — several. 


2 
2 
three 
Coach  Room — 
Two^.. 


2 
2 

six 


..twenty 


Distance  of  several  Miles — And  several  House  Keepers  in  Town  will  endeavor  to 

can  acconmdodate  Attendants.     M'  Lawrence  &  Col*  Morgan  will  undertake  to 

Spring.     CoV  Morgan  will  also  undertake  to  have  the  Congress  Room  fitted  up  so 

ter  Room  &  there  are  two  Fire  Places  in  it  — 

at  Princeton  in  all  Respects  if  they  agree  to  stay  the  Winter. 


198 


CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT  PRINCETON 


But  the  members  of  Congress  did  not  view  Jersey  ac- 
commodations through  rosy  glasses,  nor  were  the  possi- 
bilities of  Princeton  and  Trenton  as  winter  residences  so 
obvious  as  the  good  citizens  of  those  places  believed,  and 

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Princeton  Offer  of  Accommodations  for  Congress. 


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THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END 


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Princeton  Offer  of  Accommodation  for  Congress  ( Second  leaf) 

after  reading  the  two  statements  on  the  15th,  Congress 
vouchsafed  no  reply  other  than  the  very  suggestive  one 
of  silence.  When  at  length  the  decisions  of  October 
2 1  St  became  known,  Princeton  at  any  rate  realized  that 
its  days  as  a  Congressional  residence  were  numbered. 

The  last  act  in  the  passing  of  the  Army  of  the  Revo- 
lution was  now  approaching.  On  the  19th  of  September 
Washington  had  written  ^  from  Rocky  Hill  to  Congress 
respecting  the  condition  of  the  furloughed  troops,  spe- 
cially referring  to  the  clothing  of  the  troops  on  the  North 
River,  and  to  the  future  of  the  corps  of  engineers.  The 
paragraph  regarding  the  furloughed  troops  read : 

Perhaps,  among  the  Multiplicity  of  public  concerns,  an 
attention  to  the  Situation  of  the  Troops  on  Furlough, 
may  have  yielded  to  more  urgent  business ;  but  this  being 
also  a  matter  of  importance,  I  take  the  liberty  of  bringing 

*  Letters  of  Washington,  152,  Vol.  il,  p.  487. 


200  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

it  to  view ;  as,  on  the  footing  they  stand  at  present,  a 
considerable  expence,  without  the  prospect  of  an  adequate 
benefit,  is  incurred ;  unless  the  impolicy  of  giving  by 
public  Proclamation,  authenticity  to  the  discharges  while 
the  British  forces  remain  in  New  York,  can  be  deemed 
such. — 

I  call  them  discharges,  because  it  is  in  this  light  the 
Furloughs  have  all  along  been  considered ;  and  no  call,  I 
am  persuaded,  will  ever  bring  the  common  Soldiery  back 
to  their  Colours — the  whole  matter  therefore  lyes,  in  bal- 
lancing  properly  between  the  expence  of  delay,  and  the 
public  annunciation  of  an  epoch  which  may  be  premature. 

This  was  read  on  September  19th  and  referred  to 
Messrs.  Huntington,  Gerry  and  Duane,  who  on  the  29th 
reported : 

That  his  Excellency  the  Commander  in  Chief's  said 
Letter  of  the  19""  Instant  respects  three  Particulars 

First     Cloathing  for  the  Troops  of  the  North  River — 

Secondly  The  Troops  on  Furlough  in  pursuance  of 
the  Acts  of  Congress  of  the  26*"  of  May  &  the  1 1**"  of 
June  and  the  g^^  of  August  last 

Thirdly     The  Corps  of  Engineers  — 

Your  Committee  beg  leave  to  observe  that  sufficient 
provision  is  already  made  on  the  first  of  these  Heads  by 
the  Act  of  Congress  of  the  •   •   •  day  of  •  •  •  Instant. 

That  with  regard  to  the  last  it  is  still  under  the  Delib- 
eration of  your  Committee,  and  it  appears  difficult  to 
make  any  Report  thereon  untill  the  settlement  of  the 
Peace-establishment. 

With  regard  to  the  second  Object  —  viz*,  the  Troops 
who  are  on  a  Furlough  —  your  Committee  are  of  Opinion 
that  it  will  be  best  provided  for  by  the  following  Procla- 
mation which  they  subjoin  for  the  Consideration  of  Con- 
gress—  to  witt 

Then  follows  a  draft  of  a  proclamation  of  thanks  to  the 
army.  This  proclamation  had  been  submitted  to  Wash- 
ington and  contained  the  suggestions  which  he  had  made 
in  letter  to  Mr.  Huntington : 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END  20I 

Rocky  Hill  25  th  Septr.  1783. 
Sir  :  — 

I  have  perused  the  report  &  Proclamation  which  you 
were  pleased  to  put  into  my  hand  for  consideration ;  and 
think  an  alteration  in  the  first,  and,  a  consequent  one  in 
the  other  indispensibly  necessary ;  —  Because,  as  the  re- 
port now  stands,  it  is  not  broad  enough  to  comprehend 
the  several  cases  which  exist; — for  the  Troops  of  the 
Southern  Army  were  furloughed  by  General  Greene, 
whilst  those,  which  lay  in  a  manner  between  the  two 
armies,  were  under  the  more  immediate  direction  of  the 
Secretary  at  War,  &  acted  upon  by  him. — 

It  appears  to  me  proper  therefore  to  strike  out  the  latter 
part  of  the  report  &  after  the  words  "during  the  War" 
in  the  third  line,  to  insert — "and  who  by  resolution  of 

Congress   of  the   &  of  were  entitled  to 

Furloughs  or  absolutely  discharged  from  the  said  Service, 
from  and  after  the day  of next " 

The  Proclamation  conforming  thereto, —  Congress  may, 
if  they  conceive  there  is  propriety  in  it,  (after  the  neces- 
sary recitals  are  made)  offer  their  thanks  to  the  Army, 
generally,  for  its  long  &  faithful  Services ;  and  then  add  — 
that  the  further  Services  in  the  field  of  the  Officers  who 
have  been  deranged,  &  returned  on  furloughs  in  conse- 
quence of  the  aforesaid  resolutions,  can  now  be  dispensed 
with  —  That  they  have  the  permission  of  Congress  to 
retire  from  Service  —  and  that  they  are  no  longer  liable 
from  their  present  Engagements  to  be  called  into  Com- 
mand again. — 

I  can  see  no  greater  inconvenience  resulting  from  this 
measure  than  is  to  be  found  in  many  other  instances  aris- 
ing from  not  making  the  Peace  Establishment  a  primary, 
instead  of  a  subsequent  Act  to  them,  for  had  this  taken 
place  in  time,  a  system  might  have  been  formed,  &  every 
thing  relative  to  that  system  made  to  accord  with  it  — 
whereas  the  longer  it  is  delayed  the  more  incongruous 
probably  it  will  be,  as  we  are  by  this  means  forming  the 
extremities,  before  we  have  moulded  the  body,  conse- 
quently the  body  must  be  made  to  conform  and  grow  to 
the  limbs,  not  the  limbs  to  the  Body  which  may  be  found 
as  difficult  in  the  Political  as  Natural  formation  of  things, 


202  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

and  like  thereunto  the  attempt  will  more  than  probably 
produce  a  Monster. 

A  Proclamation  couched  in  some  such  terms  as  is  here 
suggested  would  I  think,  reduce  all  the  General  as  well 
as  other  Officers,  except  those  who  were  retained  with 
the  three  years  men,  and  such  as  are  immediately  em- 
ployed in  the  StafiF,  wh''?  I  think  consists  of  only  Baron 
de  Steuben  &  G :  Duportail,  and  would  moreover  I  think, 
leave  out  all  the  Engineers  for  the  future  decision  of 
Congress. 

I  have  the  hon'  to  be,  Sir  Ac* 

G?  Washington. 
The  Hon"*  Sam^  Huntington, 

Chairman  of  a  Com'®  of  Congress.^ 

The  report  was  on  the  30th  recommitted,  together 
with  one  on  the  subject  of  the  provisional  articles  of 
peace,  and  on  the  3d  of  October  the  committee  reported 
again  * 

That  not  having  been  able  to  discover  the  Sense  of 
Congress  Whether  a  proclam''  ought  to  be  prepared  for 
enjoyning  the  Observation  of  all  the  Articles  of  the  pro- 
visional Treaty  for  restoring  Peace ;  or  a  Proclamation 
for  the  special  Purpose  enjoyning  the  Observation  of  the 
Sixth  Article  only  ;  they  have  submitted  a  draft  of  a  proc- 
lamation suitable  to  each  Case  for  the  Consideration  of 
Congress. 

The  Report  on  the  Commander  in  Chief's  Letter  they 
beg  leave  to  return  without  Amendment. 

On  October  i8th,  accordingly,  the  proclamation  thank- 
ing and  discharging  the  Army  was  agreed  to  by  Congress 
and  at  once  published  by  the  President. 

That  day  also  a  proclamation,  drawn  by  Messrs.  Duane, 
S.  Huntington,  and  Holten,  appointing  Thursday,  De- 
cember nth,  a  day  of  public  thanksgiving,  was  agreed 
to  by  Congress  and  issued  by  President  Boudinot.'     On 

'  Letters  of  Washington,  A,  Vol.  7.     Original  autograph  draft. 
*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  25,  Vol.  2,  p.  271. 
^Ibid.,  24,  p.  473. 


THE    BEGINNING   OF   THE   END  203 

October  20th  Messrs.  Duane,  Ellery  and  S.  Huntington 
reported  on  a  motion  to  transmit  to  the  States  copies  of 
the  preliminary  articles  of  peace.  This  was  considered 
on  the  2 2d,  and  a  letter  of  transmission  to  be  sent  to  the 
State  Executives  was  submitted  by  the  committee.  * 

In  Congress,  Princeton  1783. 
Sir:  — 

Firmly  persuaded  that  the  Honour  and  Prosperity  of 
the  United  States  must  depend  on  a  faithful  Performance 
of  every  national  engagement  and  eminently  so  of  Treaties 
with  foreign  Powers,  Congress  would  consider  with  deep 
Regret  any  Act  which  might  render  it  impracticable  to 
give  a  just  Efficiency  to  the  provisional  articles  for  the 
Restoration  of  Peace  which  are  expressly  stipulated  to  be 
inserted  in  the  definitive  Treaty ;  They  have  therefore 
directed  Exemplifications  of  those  provisional  articles,  and 
their  own  Ratification  thereof  to  be  transmitted  to  the 
repective  States. 

Your  Excellency's  most  obed' 
humble  Servant, 

During  September  and  October  great  strides  had  been 
made  toward  winding  up  the  affairs  of  the  army.  Besides 
issuing  the  October  proclamation  of  discharge  and  thanks, 
Congress  contrived  to  square  up  numerous  civilian  war 
claims  on  a  money  basis  giving  Robert  Morris  many  a 
a  cause  to  "  shudder" ;  and  by  means  of  brevet  commis- 
sions it  had  also  endeavored  to  satisfy  the  wishes  of  de- 
serving officers. 

On  August  28th  Captain  Winthrop  Sergeant  was  pro- 
moted to  a  majority  by  brevet.  He  had  been  a  captain 
in  the  Massachusetts  Artillery  since  its  organization  in 
December,  1776,  and  had  been  assured  that  promotion 
would  take  place  in  favor  of  the  senior  captain  whenever 
a  vacancy  occurred.  The  method  of  promotion  had  been 
changed  just  as  he  became  senior  captain  and  he  found 

>Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  29,  pp.  331,  333. 


204  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

his  inferiors  promoted  over  his  head.  Since  1779  he  had 
served  General  Howe  as  an  aide,  and  he  now  applied  for 
an  advance.  The  committee  to  whom  had  been  referred 
his  letter  of  August  loth  to  President  Boudinot  with 
General  Howe's  supporting  communication,  favored  his 
claim, ^  with  the  result  as  noted. 

On  September  nth  a  brevet  commission  of  major  was 
likewise  issued  to  Captain  North, ^  Baron  Steuben's  aide. 
Major  Murnan '  on  the  15th  was  brevetted  a  Lieutenant 
Colonel,  and  on  the  same  day  three  American  seamen  who 
lost  their  limbs  on  the  "  Bonhomme  Richard  "  in  Sep- 
tember 1779  received  a  pension  of  forty  dollars  per  annum. 
On  the  25th,  Stephen  Moore,  after  laying  siege  for  eight 
weeks  to  Congressional  attention,  had  to  be  satisfied  with 
an  order  to  the  Superintendent  of  Finance  referring  his 
claim  for  timber  and  hay  used  and  land  occupied  at  West 
Point  by  American  troops  to  three  arbitrators  whose 
valuation  was  to  be  accepted  by  both  parties  and  the  cus- 
tomary mode  of  settlement  then  to  be  followed  by  the 
Superintendent.  On  the  30th  was  passed  the  resolution 
emanating  from  a  report  of  McHenry,  Peters,  and  Bland, 
made  on  September  i8th*  promoting  every  officer  under 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  78,  Vol.  21,  p.  321. 

'William  North,  of  Massachusetts,  enlisted  in  May,  1776,  as  a  second  lieu- 
tenant in  Knox's  regiment  of  Continental  Artillery.  A  year  later  he  was  captain 
in  Lee's  Additional  Continental  Regiment,  being  transferred  in  April,  1779,  to 
Spencer's  Regiment  which  later  became  the  i6th  Massachusetts.  He  was  Steu- 
ben's aide  from  May,  1779,  to  November,  1783.  He  was  transferred  in  January, 
1 78 1,  to  the  9th  Massachusetts  and  in  January,  1783,  to  the  4th  Massachusetts. 
Remaining  in  the  army  he  was  promoted  Major  and  Inspector  in  April,  1784, 
serving  four  years.  In  July,  1798,  he  was  made  Brigadier  General  and  Adjutant 
General,  U.  S.  A.,  and  on  June  15th,  1800,  was  honorably  discharged.  He  died 
January  4th,  1836.      (Heitman. ) 

'John  Barnard  de  Murnan  came  from  France  and  in  January  1779  was 
appointed  major  in  the  Engineer  Corps.  He  resigned  from  the  army  in  February 
1 784  and  received  a  testimonial  from  Congress  to  his  great  services  and  fine  abili- 
ties.    (  Heitman. ) 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  27,  p.  241. 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   THE   END  20$ 

the  major  general  rank,  who  was  still  holding  the  rank 
he  held  in  1777,  one  grade  higher  and  to  lieutenant  colo- 
nels of  that  date  were  granted  colonelcy  commissions. 
Two  of  Pulaski's  captains,  Second  and  de  Ponti^re  ^  were 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  Majors  by  brevet  and  lieutenant 
Beaulieu  '  also  of  Pulaski's  Legion,  received  a  captaincy 
by  brevet,  while  to  Captain  Haskell,'  General  Howe's 
aide,  was  issued  a  brevet  commission  of  major.  Lieuten- 
ant Edward  Phelan  *  likewise  received  a  commission  of 
captain. 

October  ist  it  was  ordered  that  the  accounts  of  John 
Halsted,  who  had  been  a  commissary  for  the  army  be 
settled  on  the  principles  of  a  report  handed  to  Congress 
on  his  case  by  Robert  Morris. 

On  the  6th  William  Langbourne  (or  Langburn)  of  the 
6th  Virginia  who  had  entered  the  army  in  1777  and  had 
served  through  the  war  with  ' '  disinterestedness  and 
reputation"  received  a  brevet  commission  of  lieutenant 
colonel.  On  that  date  too  it  was  ordered  that  Wash- 
ington reward  for  their  faithful  service  the  troopers  com- 
posing his  bodyguard  by  allowing  them  to  keep  their 
horses  and  accoutrements  when  they  should  finally  be 
discharged.* 

'  Louis  de  PontiSre  was  an  aide  to  Steuben  from  February,  1778,  to  April,  1784. 

'  Louis  I.  de  Beaulieu  came  from  France  and  joined  Pulaski  in  March,  1779. 
He  was  taken  prisoner  at  Savannah,  October  9th,  1779,  and  was  exchanged.  In 
the  following  May  he  was  wounded  at  Charleston.  From  that  time  to  the  close 
of  the  war  he  was  on  leave. 

^  Elnathon  Haskell  of  Massachusetts  served  as  a  second  lieutenant  in  the  lOth 
Continental  Infantry  from  July  to  December,  1776.  On  January  1st,  1777,  he 
became  1st  Lieutenant  and  adjutant  in  the  14th  Massachusetts,  being  promoted  to 
a  captaincy  in  April,  1778,  and  to  brigade  major  in  May.  He  was  Gen.  Howe's 
aide  from  September,  1 782,  to  November,  3d,  1783.  From  that  date  to  June  20th, 
1784,  he  served  in  Jackson's  Continental  Regiment.     (Heitman. ) 

*  Lieutenant  Phelan  became  an  ensign  in  Henley's  Additional  Continental 
Regiment  in  July,  1777,  and  in  April,  1779,  was  transferred  to  Jackson's  regiment 
which  later  became  the  i6th  Massachusetts.  He  was  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy 
in  October,  1 78 1.     He  died  January  7th,  18 10.     (Heitman.) 

*  These  men  had  been  prevailed  on  to  remain  with  Washington  when  the  rest 
of  their  regiment  had  been  furloughed.     He  wrote  to  Morris  on  October  3d  that 


206  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

On  the  loth  the  accounts  of  the  French  officers  in  the 
Engineer  Corps,  Major  General  Du  Portail/  Brigadier 
General  Laumoy,  and  Colonel  Gouvion  whose  private 
interests  now  recalled  them  to  France,  were  directed  to 
be  adjusted  by  Robert  Morris,  and  such  monies  as  the 
state  of  finances  would  permit  were  ordered  to  be  ad- 
vanced to  them  with  interest-bearing  certificates  for  the 
balances ;  and  the  Secretary  of  War  was  directed  to  express 
to  the  French  Minister  the  deep  sense  Congress  enter- 
tained of  their  distinguished  merit,  their  zeal,  and  their 
ability  in  the  service  of  the  United  States.     On  October 

they  were  indispensable,  but  that  their  detention  had  been  longer  than  was  ex- 
pected ;  they  had  spent  their  three  months'  pay  in  clothing  which  they  were  using 
in  public  service ;  they  had  received  no  recompense  for  their  voluntary  service  and 
were  growing  uneasy ;  unless  something  were  done  for  them  they  would  leave  him 
and  he  suggested  that  a  little  pay,  say  two  months,  be  advanced  to  them.  (Letters 
of  Washington,  A,  vol.  7. )     The  above  order  was  the  result. 

'  Louis  Lebique  Du  Portail,  who  with  his  fellow  officers  had  received  leave  of 
absence  from  the  French  government,  entered  the  American  service  as  a  colonel 
of  Engineers  in  July,  1777.  He  was  made  Major  General  Chief  Engineer  in  No- 
vember, 1 78 1.  After  the  declaration  of  peace  he  endeavored  to  get  special  recog- 
nition for  his  corps  of  engineers  but  futile  requests  to  Washington  and  a  fruitless 
trip  to  Princeton  showed  him  in  October,  1783,  that  circumstances  would  not  allow 
Congress  to  gratify  his  wish.  On  the  6th  he  wrote  therefore  to  President  Boudinot 
that  he  had  concluded  that  individual  settlements  would  be  the  best  method  of 
closing  up  the  matter.  Deeming  that  the  United  States  would  have  no  further 
use  for  his  services  and  those  of  Laumoy  and  Gouvion  he  begged  permission  to 
return  to  France,  opportunities  for  them  having  risen  which  might  not  occur  again, 
and  he  also  asked  that  their  accounts  be  settled  as  soon  as  possible.  The  resolu- 
tion of  October  loth  resulted  ;  but  Robert  Morris,  when  Du  Portail  came  on  the 
13th  in  person  to  show  him  the  act,  immediately  saw  visions  of  all  the  foreigners 
in  the  army  thronging  to  his  office  armed  with  similar  documents,  and  promptly 
told  him  that  the  paymaster  was  already  owing  more  than  ;$250,ooo  to  foreign 
officers,  and  with  more  engagements  now  on  his  hand  than  he  could  satisfy  he  was 
under  the  painful  necessity  of  refusing  to  advance  funds.  This  statement  Du 
Portail  at  once  forwarded  to  Boudinot,  suggesting  the  inadvisability  of  allowing 
foreigners  who  had  served  America  to  leave  the  country  without  at  least  some  of 
their  due  ;  such  a  proceeding  would  stamp  America  as  either  destitute  of  means 
or  lacking  in  justice.  His  letter  was  read  on  October  30th  and  referred  to  Wil- 
liamson, Osgood,  and  Ellery,  whose  report  was  read  January  22d,  1784,  ordering 
the  Superintendent  of  Finance  to  pay  them  what  he  could  in  order  to  enable  them 
to  get  home.     (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  78,  Vol.  8,  pp.  31,  43.) 


THE   BEGINNING  OF  THE   END  20/ 

1 6th  passage  to  France  for  these  gallant  officers  was 
provided  in  the  packet  "Washington"  at  government 
expense,  which  they  did  not  use. 

On  the  13th  the  Secretary  of  War  was  directed  to  issue 
a  brevet  commission  of  colonel  to  Lieutenant  Colonel  Ter- 
nant.^  The  same  day  the  account  of  Ebenezer  Greene  was 
ordered  to  be  settled,  and  the  report  of  the  special  com- 
mittee to  whom  the  application  of  Count  de  Kosciusko,  with 
accompanying  documents,  had  been  referred,  was  read  and 
carried.  Colonel  Kosciusko  in  September  had  solicited 
Washington's  interest  in  the  promotion  to  a  brigadier 
generalship  which  he  desired.  Washington  kindly  enough 
forwarded  the  letter  to  President  Boudinot  and  recom- 
mended special  promotion  to  the  desired  rank.  Kosciusko 
feared  that  his  name  would  fall  into  oblivion  if  he  were 
made  to  share  in  the  general  promotions.  But  the  reso- 
lution of  September  30th  already  covered  his  case,  hence 
the  committee  could  do  nothing  further  for  him,  deeply 
impressed  though  they  were  with  his  merit,  than  to  recom- 
mend that  the  Secretary  of  War  transmit  the  brevet  com- 
mission of  brigadier  general  to  him  and  signify  at  the 
same  time  the  appreciation  of  Congress  for  his  "long, 
faithful  and  meritorious  service."^ 

On  October  13th,  too.  Captain  Nathan  Goodale,  of  the 
Fifth  Massachusetts,  who  had  just  been  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  major  by  brevet,  received  a  major's  commission 
in  the  line  of  the  army,  in  recognition  of  his  extraordi- 
nary  services.'      Four   days   later   the   Paymaster   was 

'  Jean  Baptiste  Temant,  a  Frenchman,  had  joined  the  Continental  Army  in  Sep- 
tember, 1778,  as  lieutenant  colonel  and  inspector,  serving  in  Pulaski's  Legion 
He  had  been  taken  prisoner  at  Charleston  in  May,  1780.  Three  years  later 
Lincoln  recommended  him  for  promotion,  and  the  committee  appointed  brought  in 
a  resolution  to  that  effect  on  September  30th,  which  was  lost.  (Pap.  Cont. 
Cong.,  149,  Vol.  2,  p.  531,) 

*  Letters  of  Washington,  64  folio  213  ;  Letters  of  Washington,  A,  Vol.  7,  letter 
of  October  2d  ;  and  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  19,  Vol.  3,  p.  401. 

'Captain  Goodale  entered  the  army  in  1775  as  a  lieutenant  under  General 
Putnam.     In  the  campaign  of  1776  he  served  in  the  engineers  and  several  of  the 


208  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

directed  to  settle  with  Captain  Post's  company  of  Artil- 
lery Artificers,  and  the  next  day  $1,455  were  ordered  to 
be  paid  Major  Jackson  in  compensation  for  his  services 
as  Secretary  to  Mr.  Laurens  at  the  Court  of  Versailles ; 
and  to  Major  General  Greene  in  recognition  of  his  bril- 
liant conduct  of  the  Southern  campaign  were  presented 
the  two  guns  captured  from  the  British  at  the  Cowpens, 
Augusta  or  Eutaw,  and  he  received  leave  of  absence  to 
visit  his  family  in  Rhode  Island.^ 

On  the  twentieth  a  petition  of  General  Knox  asking 
extra  allowance  for  extraordinary  services  at  West  Point 
was  refused  on  recommendation  of  Williamson,  Osgood 
and  Tilton,  the  committee  to  whom  it  had  been  referred, 
a  decision  which,  however,  was  reconsidered  ten  days 
later  under  fresh  influences,  when  he  was  granted  pay  of 
a  major  general  in  a  separate  department  for  the  period 
of  his  command  at  West  Point.^ 

works  erected  around  New  York  were  due  to  his  skill  and  knowledge.  In  No- 
vember, 1776,  he  returned  to  service  under  Putnam  as  a  captain,  but  his  oppor- 
tunity to  distinguish  himself  signally  did  not  come  until  August,  1777,  when 
General  Gates  called  for  volunteers  to  get  information  about  Burgoyne's  position 
after  Ticonderoga.  Goodale  undertook  the  perilous  task  accompanied  by  a  ser- 
geant and  six  privates,  and  succeeded  after  encountering  all  manner  of  hardships. 
Gates  kept  him  at  scouting  work,  and  he  became  so  accomplished  a  woodsman 
that  before  the  British  army  finally  surrendered,  Goodale  took  no  less  than  121 
prisoners  himself.  General  Putnam  interested  himself  in  him  and  in  June,  1783, 
wrote  to  Washington  urging  special  reward.  The  Commander  in  Chief  passed  the 
letter  to  Jackson,  who  in  turn  handed  the  correspondence  to  President  Boudinot. 
McHenry,  Peters  and  Bland,  Boudinot's  committee,  in  July  consulted  Major 
General  Lincoln,  who  approved  of  Goodale' s  memorial  and  hoped  he  would  be 
rewarded  with  some  material  promotion.  The  committee  reported  on  October  4th, 
and  on  the  13th  the  action  above  noted  was  taken.  (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  149,  Vol. 
3,  pp.  213,  221,  225,  229.) 

^  Ellery,  Madison  and  Duane  had  delivered  a  report  to  this  effect  on  the  14th. 
(Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  Vol.  2,  p.  505.)  General  Greene  was  at  some  loss  to  know 
how  to  get  the  cannon  voted  to  him  ;  he  was  not  even  quite  sure  where  they 
were.     (Letters  to  Washington,  64,  folio  334,  November  3d,  1783.) 

*  Knox's  case  is  easily  traceable  in  the  Papers  of  the  Continental  Congress.  No. 
19,  Volume  3,  page  393,  is  his  claim  dated  June  2d,  1783 ;  19,  Vol.  3,  389,  is 
Washington's  letter  of  June  6th  to  Lincoln  favoring  the  claim.     June  I  ith  General 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE    END  2O9 

On  the  thirtieth,  also,  the  long-standing  claim  of  Col- 
onel Richard  Varick,  Washington's  secretary,  was  al- 
lowed,^ and  the  State  of  New  York  was  recommended  to 
settle  and  pay  him  arrears  and  charge  the  sum  to  the 
United  States.  Colonel  Varick  had  found  it  a  simpler 
matter  to  get  money  for  his  copyists  than  for  himself, 
because  in  their  case  he  was  free  to  adopt  an  easier 
course.  On  August  i8th  he  had  written  to  Washington' 
that  his  copyists  needed  money ;  six  months  had  elapsed 
since  they  had  received  any  pay  whatever ;  $900  was  due 
them,   and  not  less  than  that  sum  would  pay  for  their 

Lincoln  wrote  to  President  Boudinot  ( 19,  Vol.  3,  p.  379),  enclosing  Knox's  claim 
and  supporting  it.  The  next  day  it  was  referred  to  Williamson,  Bland  and 
Hamilton,  who  on  the  17th  reported  adversely  (19,  Vol.  3,  387).  There  the 
matter  rested  until  the  autumn.  September  29th  Knox  wrote  to  Washington  that 
his  expenses  at  West  Point  were  exceeding  his  salary,  and  asked  him  to  lay  the 
matter  before  Congress  (Letters  to  Washington  64,  fo.  221 ).  October  12th,  Lincoln 
wrote  to  Boudinot  requesting  fresh  consideration  of  the  case.  This  letter  was 
referred  to  Williamson,  Osgood  and  Tilton  (19,  Vol.  3,  p.  387),  and  they  refused 
October  20th  to  give  him  any  extra  allowance  ( 19,  Vol.  3,  p.  377).  On  the  30th 
the  favorable  final  action  was  taken. 

1  Richard  Varick  had  entered  the  army  in  June,  1775,  as  a  captain  in  one  of 
the  New  York  regiments,  and  also  received  appointment  as  secretary  to  General 
Schuyler,  acting  thus  until  September,  1776,  when  he  resigned  in  compliance  with 
Congressional  resolutions,  and  by  General  Schuyler's  resignation  also  lost  his 
secretaryship.  Later  in  the  month  he  was  appointed  deputy  muster  master  general 
to  the  Northern  Army,  acting  as  chief  until  1778.  On  November  12,  1776,  he 
had  been  promoted  to  a  lieutenant  colonelcy,  and  in  the  following  April  was 
chosen  first  deputy  muster  master  general  under  direction  of  General  Joseph  Ward, 
and  acted  as  such  until  January,  1 780,  when  Congress  abolished  the  office  and  dis- 
charged its  members  with  allowance  of  one  year's  pay,  this  being  the  gratuity 
allowed  to  other  deranged  officers.  From  August,  1779,  to  the  time  of  his  dis- 
charge he  had  received  none  of  his  pay  or  subsistence,  and  on  August  20th,  1783, 
he  petitioned  Congress  to  direct  the  State  of  New  York  to  settle  his  account,  mak- 
ing good  the  depreciation  that  had  meanwhile  occurred.  This  had  been  referred 
to  a  committee,  L'Hommedieu,  McHenry  and  S.  Huntington,  on  September  8th, 
whose  report  of  the  15th  was  not  acted  on.  Varick  then  pushed  the  matter 
by  memorializing  Congress  on  the  26th,  whereupon  a  fresh  committee,  Clark, 
Bland  and  McHenry,  took  it  up,  reporting  on  October  1st  the  resolution  which 
passed  on  the  30th  (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  78,  Vol.  23,  pp.  199  and  203  ;  and  19, 
Vol.  6,  pp.  113  and  115). 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  64,  folios  42  and  152. 
14 


2IO  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

work  to  the  end  of  August.  It  does  not  appear  what 
hidden  money-making  machinery  was  put  into  operation, 
but  on  September  loth  Robert  Morris  forwarded  the 
necessary  $i,8oo.^ 

What  proved  to  be  the  shadow  cast  by  a  coming  event 
was  encountered  on  October  24th,  when  a  belated  report 
was  made  by  Huntington,  Duane  and  Madison  in  regard 
to  a  communication  received  more  than  a  month  before 
from  the  French  Minister.  It  seems  that  in  the  middle 
of  September  (i8th)  M.  de  la  Luzerne  had  intimated  to 
Congress  that  he  had  a  communication  of  interest  to  offer. 
President  Boudinot  delegated  Messrs.  Duane,  Fitzsim- 
mons,  Gerry,  Samuel  Huntington  and  EUery  to  receive 
it,  and  they  met  the  French  Minister  one  evening  in 
Nassau  Hall  according  to  appointment.  Luzerne  had 
received  dispatches  from  Vergennes  dated  July  21st, 
stating  that  it  was  difficult  to  know  when  the  Definitive 
Treaty  would  be  concluded ;  France  and  Great  Britain 
were  perfectly  agreed  on  every  point  respecting  their 
treaty ;  the  same  was  true  of  Spain,  while  Holland  had 
not  quite  settled  the  details  of  her  treaty.  But,  with  the 
exception  of  Great  Britain,  all  the  powers,  ' '  attached  to 
the  true  principles  by  which  negotiations  of  such  Import- 
ance ought  to  be  regulated,"  were  determined  to  sign 
only  in  concert,  and  the  negotiation  was  checked  by 
nothing  but  the  delay  in  the  Anglo-American  treaty. 
In  regard  to  it  there  seemed  to  be  "a  state  of  Languor " 
occasioned,  so  Vergennes  thought,  by  the  British  pleni- 
potentiary. By  admitting  English  vessels  to  American 
ports  too  soon,  the  United  States  had  made  a  tactical 
error  and  had  deprived  themselves  of  a  powerful  weapon 
to  induce  Great  Britain  to  conclude  the  treaty.  Had 
the  former  prohibitory  laws  been  adhered  to  until  the 
final  settlement  of  peace,  the  United  States  would  have 
furnished  "the  most  powerful  Arm"  to  the  party  sin- 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END  211 

cerely  desiring  a  conclusion  of  peace.  Congress  might, 
however,  rest  assured  that  the  Definitive  Treaty  would 
not  be  signed  but  in  concert,  and  Vergennes  ended  by 
deprecating  the  suggestion  that  a  third  party  should  be 
requested  to  act  as  mediator  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States.  The  American  Commissioners  would 
do  better  by  forcing  their  claims  themselves. 

A  report  ^  embodying  the  above  information  was  deliv- 
ered on  September  19th.  It  was  referred  to  Messrs. 
Huntington,  Duane  and  Madison  who  allowed  a  month 
to  elapse  and  then  on  October  24th  brought  in  their 
reply : 

Resolved  that  the  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  France 
be  informed  that  Congress  received  much  Pleasure  from 
his  Communication  of  the  Resolution  of  the  Belligerent 
Parties  not  to  sign  a  definitive  Treaty  of  Peace  with  Great 
Britain,  but  in  Concert  with  the  United  States.  That  it 
gives  them  equal  satisfaction  to  learn  that  his  most  Chris- 
tian Majesty  had  in  view  the  Commerce  of  the  United 
States ;  and  that  it  is  the  earnest  wish  that  such  a  Spirit 
of  Liberality  may  pervade  Commercial  Regulations,  on 
both  sides,  as  will  extend  the  Intercourse  and  mutual 
Interest  of  the  two  Nations,  and  preserve  and  encrease 
the  reciprocal  Confidence  and  affection  which  have  so 
eminently  distinguished  their  Alliance.' 

The  foreign  commerce  of  the  republic  received  no  little 
attention  from  Congress  toward  the  end  of  the  session. 
The  subject  had  been  brought  into  prominence  by  the 
alarmist  tone  of  the  dispatches  sent  over  by  Adams,  Jay 
and  Franklin  during  the  summer,  hinting  broadly  at  for- 
eign disdain  of  the  American  government,  and  plainly 
asserting  the  danger  to  American  commerce  lurking  in 
the  prohibitive  commercial  policy  inaugurated  by  Great 
Britain. 

>Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  25,  2,  p.  295. 
^Ibid.,  25,  Vol.  2,  p.  291. 


212  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

These  matters  obviously  belonged  to  the  province  of 
the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  but  no  successor  had 
been  appointed  to  Robert  Livingston,  who  had  resigned 
in  June ;  and  the  report  of  Samuel  Huntington,  Lee  and 
Higginson  made  on  August  26th  on  a  motion  of  Hunt- 
ington that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  perform  the 
duties  of  a  Secretary  until  Livingston's  successor  should 
be  chosen,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  acted  on  at  the 
time.  Mr.  Duane  had  moved  that  a  list  of  the  documents 
in  the  Foreign  Office  be  made  out  and  laid  before  Con- 
gress. Both  of  these  propositions  were  embodied  in  the 
report  which  unluckily  fell  on  the  day  of  Washington's 
reception  by  Congress,  and  foreign  affairs  were  for  the 
time  relegated  to  the  background. 

Early  in  September,  however.  President  Boudinot 
appointed  Messrs.  Duane,  Rutledge,  Fitzsimmons,  Gerry 
and  Higginson  a  committee  to  analyze  the  foreign  dis- 
patches and  to  report  what  steps  should  be  taken  to  count- 
eract the  conditions  which  they  revealed.  On  September 
19th  Mr.  Duane  read  the  analysis  in  Congress,^  and  a  few 
days  later — the  Journal  says  September  26th,  while  the 
manuscript  itself  is  dated  September  29th — brought  in  a 
report  ^  from  his  committee  on  the  proposed  remedies. 
It  was  resolved,  on  advice  of  this  report,  first,  to  appoint  a 
committee  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  States  upon  the 
subject  of  commerce,  naming  the  conditions  in  Europe, 
the  evils  to  be  apprehended  and  the  steps  to  be  taken  by 
the  United  States.  Messrs.  Duane,  Fitzsimmons  and  Lee 
were  appointed.  Secondly,  it  was  resolved  to  appoint  a 
committee  to  consider  the  domestic  invigoration  of  the 
Union  and  the  elevation  of  its  political  and  commercial 
status  abroad.  Messrs.  Duane,  Fitzsimmons  and  Lee 
were  also  appointed  to  be  this  committee. 

iPap.  Cont.  Cong.,  25,  Vol.  2,  p.  257. 

^Ibid.,  24,  p.  95.  See  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  Vol.  3  (Bost.,  1821),  p. 
398. 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END  213 

James  McHenry,  seconded  by  Daniel  Carroll,  here  sub- 
mitted a  resolution '  which  aimed  to  assist  Congressional 
discussion  of  these  important  topics,  and  of  which  the 
preamble  summed  up  very  tersely  the  situation  confront- 
ing the  United  States  —  a  situation  created  by  its  new 
relations  with  European  powers  as  a  result  of  peace,  and 
also  by  its  domestic  concerns  as  a  self-governing  people. 

The  various  sources  of  trade  that  were  now  open  to  the 
United  States,  the  restrictive  commercial  system  being 
introduced  by  Great  Britain,  the  necessity  of  securing 
immediately  all  possible  foreign  advantages  and  of  ad- 
ministering funds  for  the  punctual  discharge  of  financial 
obligations,  the  preservation  and  securing  of  domestic  har- 
mony, with  provision  against  external  attack  whether  by 
Indians  or  by  other  possible  enemies  —  all  of  these  matters 
specially  requiring  the  collective  deliberation  of  the 
States,  Dr.  McHenry  moved  that  they  be  earnestly  recom- 
mended to  forward  representatives  as  soon  as  possible 
that  so  the  wisdom  of  each  State  might  be  exercised  where 
the  interest  of  each  was  so  deeply  concerned.  Serious 
consideration  could  thus  be  given  to  the  contents  of  the 
recent  dispatches  from  Europe  —  he  cited  their  most 
salient  points  —  and  to  recommendations  in  the  April  Ad- 
dress to  the  States  which  had  not  yet  been  carried  out, 
and  some  general  system  might  be  devised  whereby  the 
injurious  effects  of  British  commercial  policy  might  best 
be  counteracted,  and  the  stability  of  American  commerce 
assured.  He  offered  the  resolution  in  order  that,  if  Great 
Britain  should  be  successful  in  carrying  out  her  plans, 
or  if  the  United  States  should  fail  to  grasp  foreign  advant- 
ages through  lack  of  sufficient  representation  to  discuss 
them,  or  should  lose  national  character  through  neglect 
of  financial  obligations,  or  should  fail  to  make  arrange- 
ments essential  to  national  security  and  internal  harmony, 

^  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  24,  p.  77. 


214  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

Congress  at  least  would  not  be  to  blame.  This  motion 
was  assigned  for  consideration,  but  before  it  came  up 
attendance  was  improved  by  the  imminence  of  the  resi- 
dence debate.  And  when  that  debate  was  over  Mr.  Duane 
had  a  report  to  make  from  the  committee  appointed  by 
the  second  resolution  of  September  26th.  Nothing  was 
done  about  the  proposed  Address  to  the  States  until  the 
next  year.^  But  on  October  22d  Mr.  Duane  reported  a 
series  of  instructions^  to  the  American  Ministers  in  Eu- 
rope, which  passed  Congress  on  the  twenty-ninth.  The 
Ministers  were  to  announce  to  his  majesty  the  "  Emperor" 
of  Germany  the  high  sense  Congress  entertained  of  his 
exalted  character  and  eminent  virtues,  and  to  signify  the 
desire  of  the  United  States  that  a  treaty  of  amity  and  com- 
merce might  be  entered  into  between  the  two  nations. 
In  the  second  place  the  Ministers  were  to  meet  all  ad- 
vances and  encourage  every  disposition  shown  by  Euro- 
pean powers  to  form  treaties,  laying  it  down,  however, 
as  a  fundamental  principle  that  the  basis  of  all  such  treaties 
should  be  one  of  perfect  reciprocity,  and  no  first  treaty 
should  be  of  more  than  fifteen  years'  duration.  The  third 
instruction  was  to  put  a  stop  to  all  loans  in  whatever  part 
of  Europe,  and  was  not  agreed  to,  being  recommitted  for 
further  consideration.  Fourthly,  the  American  Ministers 
were  to  press  upon  his  Danish  Majesty  the  necessity  of 
giving  complete  satisfaction  for  the  prizes  captured  by 
Captain  Paul  Jones  and  taken  to  the  port  of  Bergen,  the 
value  of  said  prizes  being  ;^5o,ooo.  His  Majesty  was  at 
the  same  time  to  be  assured  of  the  sincerity  of  the  desire 
of  the  United  States  to  cultivate  the  friendship  of  Den- 
mark, and  to  further  commercial  intercourse  with  that 
country.     The  Ministers  were  next  instructed  to  find  out 

'See  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  24,  p.  99,  for  the  draft  of  the  address  timidly  drawn 
up  by  Gerry,  Read,  Williamson,  Chase  and  Jefferson  in  April,  1784. 
^Ibid.,  25,  Vol.  2,  p.  309.     Wharton,  Vol.  6,  p.  717. 


THE   BEGINNING   OF   THE   END  21$ 

why  the  expedition  of  the  "  Alliance  "  and  the  Bonhomme 
Richard  "  was  carried  out  at  the  expense  and  on  the  ac- 
count of  the  Court  of  France,  and  also  whether  any  of  the 
prizes  taken,  due  to  American  officers  and  seamen,  were 
still  in  Europe  and  whether  any  part  of  the  profit  accru- 
ing from  the  prizes  had  been  placed  to  the  credit  of  the 
United  States.  By  the  sixth  instruction  the  ministers 
were  directed  to  see  to  it  that  the  United  States  was  not 
further  implicated  in  the  affairs  of  the  Armed  Neutrality. 
Although  Congress  approved  of  the  principles  of  that 
convention,  since  it  was  founded  on  the  liberal  basis  of 
maintenance  of  the  rights  of  neutrals  and  of  the  privileges 
of  commerce,  yet  it  was  unwilling  to  become  a  party  to 
any  confederacy  which  might  hereafter  too  far  compli- 
cate the  interest  of  the  United  States  with  the  politics  of 
Europe.  If,  therefore,  affairs  had  not  gone  too  far  to 
make  the  step  possible,  no  further  measures  were  to  be 
taken  toward  admitting  the  United  States  into  the  con- 
federacy. Seventhly,  the  American  peace  commissioners 
were  urged  to  forward  the  conclusion  of  the  Definitive 
Treaty  as  quickly  as  possible,  even  if  they  were  compelled 
to  accept  the  Provisional  Articles  as  the  basis  of  the  per- 
manent treaty.  The  eighth  and  ninth  heads  were  special 
permission  to  Jay  to  recall  Carmichael  to  Paris,  if  the 
latter's  absence  from  Madrid  would  not  injure  American 
interests ;  Carmichael  was  to  settle  his  accounts  with  Jay, 
and  the  latter  was  given  permission  to  go  to  Bath  for  his 
health  if  he  found  it  necessary. 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE   DUTCH    MINISTER   ARRIVES 

For  several  weeks  past  the  members  of  Congress  had 
been  looking  for  the  arrival  of  a  Minister  Plenipotentiary 
from  the  Netherlands,  and  the  public  prints  had  fostered 
the  general  interest  in  his  coming.  The  accredited  Min- 
ister, Peter  John  Van  Berckel,  burgomaster  of  the  city 
of  Rotterdam  and  a  leader  in  the  Assembly,  had  asked 
Dumas  to  write  over  to  Philadelphia  and  engage  for  him 
a  house  and  buy  horses  and  a  carriage,  as  he  himself  knew 
no  one  in  America.  Dumas  had  turned  the  matter  over  to 
Livingston,  to  whom  Van  Berckel  wrote  on  March  26th, 
soliciting  his  aid  in  the  selection  of  a  house  and  the  pur- 
chase of  six  horses  and  a  carosse.^  Livingston,  however, 
was  about  to  resign,  and  on  June  2d  wrote  to  Boudinot 
that  owing  to  the  brevity  of  his  stay  in  town  he  would 
be  unable  to  attend  to  the  commission,  and  he  asked  for 
directions.^ 

Toward  the  end  of  the  summer,  as  the  time  for  Van 
Berckel's  expected  arrival  drew  near,  rumors  began  to 
float  that  other  foreign  representatives  also  were  on  their 
way.  At  Philadelphia  the  economic  effect  of  these  rumors 
was  marked.  The  Philadelphia  correspondent  of  the 
Boston  Evening  Post  writes  in  the  issue  of  August  i6th: 

Houses  are  fitting  up  in  this  city  for  the  reception  of 
foreign  Ambassadors  who  are  expected  to  arrive  one  from 
Spain,  one  from  Denmark,  and  one  from  Sweden ;  and  it 
is  talked,  that  one  will  be  sent  from  Vienna,  and  one  from 
Berlin,    but  those  are   not  fully  determined ;   however, 

^See  his  letter  in  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  99,  p.  21 
*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  79,  Vol.  3,  p.  243. 

216 


THE   DUTCH    MINISTER   ARRIVES  21/ 

people  begin  to  flock  hither  from  all  parts,  and  rents  rise 
amazingly. 

On  the  9th  of  September  the  packet  ship  "  General 
Washington  "  anchored  at  Philadelphia,  and  a  wave  of 
excitement  was  caused  when  "  Baron  de  Beelen  of  Bert- 
holff  with  his  suite  from  the  Imperial  Court  of  Germany  " 
disembarked,  though,  as  the  Virginia  Gazette  remarked, 
whether  he  came  as  "Minister,  Consul,  or  resident" 
would  be  better  known  when  his  credentials  were  pre- 
sented. A  London  letter  dated  June  20th,  printed  in 
the  same  issue  of  the  paper,  announced  that  Van  Berckel 
was  expected  to  sail  from  Europe  in  the  end  of  June,  and 
was  to  come  "  with  his  suite  in  a  new  60  gun  ship,  and  is 
to  be  attended  by  four  frigates,  on  board  of  which  are 
going  a  great  number  of  the  Dutch  gentry,  and  two  very 
opulent  merchants  of  Amsterdam,  who  intend  to  fix  estab- 
lished houses,  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  and  to  put 
considerable  sums  of  money  into  the  new  public  Penn- 
sylvania bank."^ 

According  to  a  dispatch  from  Utrecht,  dated  May  2d 
and  published  in  the  Virginia  Gazette  July  12th,  Van 
Berckel  was  to  sail  in  the  "Hercula,"  commanded  by 
Capt.  De  Melvil,  and  accompanying  his  war  vessel  were 
the  "  Centaur"  of  44  guns,  "  La  Ceres  "  of  40  and  two 
other  frigates.  The  Salem  Gazette  of  August  21st  stated 
that  on  the  4th  of  June  Van  Berckel  had  taken  leave  of 
their  High  Mightinesses  and  of  the  Lords  of  the  States 
of  Holland  and  West  Friesland ;  the  addresses  of  fare- 
well delivered  by  him  on  these  occasions  were  pub- 
lished by  the  Virginia  Gazette  on  October  4th,  and  faith- 
fully copied  by  its  Salem  contemporary  in  its  issue  of 
October  23d.  On  the  8th  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  in- 
formed its  readers  that  a  vessel  had  just  come  in  from 
Amsterdam  after  a  voyage  of  thirteen  weeks,  having  left 

^  Virginia  Gazette,  September  27th. 


2l8  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

Europe  in  company  with  the  vessel  which  bore  Van 
Berckel,  and  it  was  believed  having  on  board  a  part  of 
his  excellency's  baggage.  This  was  probably  the  source 
of  the  rumor  at  Princeton  on  October  9th  that  the  Dutch 
Minister  had  arrived  in  this  country.' 

At  last,  on  October  nth,  the  Independent  Gazetteer  an- 
nounced that  the  "Hercula"  had  arrived  in  the  river 
after  a  long  passage,  and  was  momently  expected  in  the 
city.  The  voyage  had  been  "  tedious  and  tempestuous."  * 
Fifteen  weeks  and  three  days  was  Van  Berckel's  record 
of  its  duration.^  In  a  storm  off  Nantucket  one  of  his 
convoys  had  gone  down  and  over  three  hundred  men  were 
drowned.  Late  that  afternoon,  October  nth,  his  excel- 
lency landed  at  the  Philadelphia  wharf  and  the  bells  of 
Christ  Church  rang  out  peals  of  welcome.*  One  of  the 
best  houses  in  the  most  fashionable  part  of  the  city  was 
to  have  been  provided  for  him,'  but  there  was  a  hitch  in 
the  negotiation  and  the  first  foreign  Minister  accredited 
to  the  United  States  after  its  independence  was  admitted, 
was  compelled  to  put  up  at  the  City  Tavern  on  Second 
Street  near  Walnut.*  While  there  was  no  public  house 
in  Philadelphia  which  enjoyed  a  better  reputation  in  the 
country  than  the  City  Tavern,  and  while  it  probably 
compared  favorably  with  the  best  hotels  of  Amsterdam, 
yet  the  Dutch  Minister  felt  the  neglect  keenly ;  and  the 
fact  that  the  horses  he  had  ordered  had  been  obtained 
ameliorated  but  little  the  state  of  his  feelings.  Boudinot 
remarked  to  General  Philemon  Dickinson  that  Van 
Berckel  was  ' '  rather  disgusted  with  his  reception  at  his 

'L'Hommedieu  to  Clinton,  October  9th.     Clinton  MSS.  No.  5214. 

^Independent  Gazetteer,  October  1 8th. 

'  Lenox  Library,  Letters  of  Van  Berckel ;  October  1 2th  to  the  States  General. 

*  Independent  Gazetteer,  October  1 8th, 

*  Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  I,  p.  575  ;  Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  23,  Madison 
to  Randolph,  September  30th. 

^Pennsylvania  Gazette,  October  15th ;    Virginia  Gazette,  October  25th. 


THE   DUTCH    MINISTER  ARRIVES  219 

first  landing."^  Madison  grumbled  to  Randolph  that 
six  horses  were  a  regrettable  extravagance  —  "wherever 
commerce  prevails  there  will  be  an  inequality  of  wealth, 
and  wherever  the  latter  goes  a  simplicity  of  manners 
must  decline."^ 

Van  Berckel  gave  himself  a  week  in  which  to  test  his 
horses  and  to  recover  from  his  voyage  and  his  surprise  at 
not  finding  Congress  in  Philadelphia.  Robert  Morris 
entertained  him  at  dinner  on  October  13th'  and  Richard 
Phillips,  Mr.  Boudinot's  steward,  received  orders  to  give 
him  the  late  presidential  mansion  and  to  do  anything  in 
his  power  to  make  him  comfortable.*  But  the  steward 
made  the  mistake  of  allowing  his  own  ideas  of  diplomatic 
courtesy  to  precipitate  a  mild  international  complication. 
When  he  saw  the  days  passing  inertly,  he  intimated  to 
the  Dutch  Minister  that  his  failure  to  announce  officially 
his  presence  as  a  foreign  representative  was  lacking  in 
dignity  and  productive  of  comment.  This  from  a  lackey 
Van  Berckel  resented  ;  and,  falling  readily  into  what  was 
almost  a  public  custom  when  trouble  was  brewing,  he 
consulted  Robert  Morris.  The  latter  at  once  communi- 
cated with  Mr.  Boudinot,  who  on  October  23d  expressed 
to  Morris  his  mortification  at  Phillips'  indiscretion,  beg- 
ging him  to  assure  Van  Berckel  that  ' '  it  must  have  arose 
either  from  the  ignorance  or  insolence  of  a  weak  old 
Man,"  for  he  believed  that  Phillips  "had  never  heard  the 
Idea  even  suggested  from  any  Person  whatever."  No 
word  had  yet  been  received  from  Van  Berckel.  For 
some  unknown  reason  a  letter  which  he  wrote  on  the  19th, 
formally  announcing  his  arrival  in  America,  enclosing  a 

1  Boudinot,  Vol.  i,  p.  403. 

'Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  i,  p.  575  ;  Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  23,  Madison 
to  Randolph,  September  30th. 

'  Morris'  Diary. 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  15,  p.  252;  Boudinot,  Vol.  I,  p.  400;  Wharton,  Vol.  6, 
P-  713- 


220  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

copy  of  his  credentials  and  praying  the  honor  of  an  audi- 
ence with  Congress  did  not  reach  Princeton  until  the 
evening  of  the  24th.  Mr.  Boudinot  at  once  dispatched 
his  Secretary,  Charles  Sterrett,  with  a  letter  assuring 
Van  Berckel  of  his  joy  at  the  news  of  the  Minister's  safe 
arrival,  and  also  of  the  pleasure  he  would  have  in  render- 
ing his  residence  in  America  as  ' '  agreeable  as  this  Infant 
Country  will  admit."  He  told  him  that  he  would  an- 
nounce to  Congress  the  next  day  the  fact  of  his  arrival 
and  would  transmit  without  delay  the  decision  as  to  an 
audience. 

The  Trustees  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  had  not 
needed  the  cumbersome  machinery  of  official  channels  to 
inform  them  of  the  arrival  of  a  Minister  from  the  land  of 
William  of  Nassau,  in  honor  of  whom  Nassau  Hall  was 
named.  The  fact  that  he  was  in  the  country  was  suffic- 
ient unto  them,  and  on  October  22d — oddly  enough  the 
anniversary  date  of  the  signing  of  the  college  charter — 
while  Congress  was  listening  to  the  draft  of  a  treaty  with 
Denmark^  on  which,  characteristically,  no  action  was  taken, 
the  Trustees  of  the  college  being  met  on  business  connected 
with  the  upbuilding  of  the  institution,  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity to  resolve  that  a  congratulatory  address  be  pre- 
sented to  the  Minister  from  Holland  on  behalf  of  the  cor- 
poration. Dr.  Witherspoon  was  requested  to  prepare  it, 
and  it  was  agreed  to  in  these  simple  terms : 

To  His  Excellency Van  Berckel  tninister  plenipotetitiary 

from  the  States  of  the   United  Netherlands,  to  the   United 

States  of  America. 

May  it  please  your  Excellency  —  The  trustees  of  the 
college  of  New  Jersey  beg  leave  to  congratulate  your 
Excellency  on  your  arrival  in  this  country.  The  name  by 
which  the  building  is  distinguished  in  which  our  instruc- 
tion is  conducted,  will  sufficiently  inform  your  Excel- 
lency of  the  attachment  we  have  ever  had  to  the  States 

iPap.  Cont.  Cong.,  25,  Vol.  2,  p.  315. 


THE   DUTCH    MINISTER   ARRIVES  221 

of  the  United  Netherlands.  And  the  friendship,  counte- 
nance, &  assistance,  which  we  have  received  from  Hol- 
land call  upon  us,  in  the  most  particular  manner  to  express 
our  gratitude  to  your  constituents,  by  wishing  you  all 
happiness,  comfort,  &  success  in  your  present  important 
mission. 

Signed  in  the  name  &  by  order  of  the  board 

John  Witherspoon  Presdt^ 

Nassau  Hall, 
Oct.  22,  1783. 

On  the  morning  of  the  25th  Mr.  Boudinot  officially  an- 
nounced to  his  colleagues  the  arrival  of  the  Dutch  Min- 
ister, the  receipt  of  his  letter  of  the  19th  and  his  request 
for  an  audience.  Congress  suspended  discussion  of  the 
Peace  Establishment  and  sent  the  letter  to  an  inevitable 
committee,  whose  report  ^  was  in  very  short  order  pre- 
sented and  agreed  to,  whereby  it  was 

Resolved  That  the  said  honorable  P.  J.  Van  Berckel  be 
received  as  Minister  plenipotentiary  from  their  high 
Mightinesses  the  states  general  of  the  United  [provinces 
of  the]  '  Netherlands  and  that  agreeably  to  his  request  he 
be  admitted  to  a  public  Audience  in  Congress. 

That  the  Congress  room  in  Princeton  on  Thursday 
next  at  Noon  be  appointed  as  the  time  and  place  for  such 
Audience. 

That  the  superintendent  of  finance  and  secretary  at  War 
or  either  of  them  perform  on  this  occasion  the  duties  as- 
signed to  the  Secretary  for  foreign  affairs  in  the  cere- 
monial respecting  foreign  Ministers  and  that  they  inform 
the  supreme  executives  of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania, 
his  excellency  the  commander  in  chief,  the  hon"*.  the 
Minister  plenipotentiary  of  [their  high  Mightinesses  the 
States  general  of  the  United  provinces]  '  France  &  such 

^Minutes  of  the  Trustees,  Vol.  I,  p.  241.  The  blanks  are  in  the  minutes. 
The  document  sent  is  not  among  the  Van  Berckel  papers  at  Washington,  nor  does 
an  acknowledgment  seem  to  have  been  received  by  the  Trustees. 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  25,  Vol.  2,  p,  299. 

*  Bracketed  words  struck  out.  The  preamble  to  the  resolution  as  printed  in 
the  Journal  is  found  in  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  25,  Vol.  2,  pp.  303,  305. 


222  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

civil  and  military  gentlemen  as  are  in  or  near  to  Prince- 
town  of  the  public  Audience  to  be  given  to  the  honorable 
the  Minister  plenipotentiary  of  their  high  Mightinesses 
the  States  general  of  the  United  [provinces  of  the] ' 
Netherlands. 

Ordered  That  the  superintendent  of  finance  and  secre- 
tary at  war  or  either  of  them  take  Order  for  an  enter- 
tainment to  be  given  at  the  public  expense  to  the  hon"". 
P.  J.  Van  Berkel  Minister  plenipotentiary  from  their 
High  Mightinesses  the  States  general  of  the  United  [prov- 
inces of  the] '  Netherlands  to  the  United  States  of  America, 
On  thursday  next  the  day  assigned  for  the  public  Audi- 
ence of  the  said  Minister. 

It  was  further  ordered,  although  the  Journal  does  not 
show  it,  that  the  Superintendent  of  Finance  and  the  Sec- 
retary of  War  or  either  of  them  should  see  to  the  provis- 
ion of  suitable  apartments  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
Minister  during  his  attendance  on  Congress.^ 

The  ceremonial  for  such  occasions  was  also  spread  on 
the  Journal.^  On  Sunday,  Charles  Thomson  sent  three 
copies  of  it  to  Boudinot,'  and  one  of  these  the  President 
at  once  forwarded  to  Van  Berckel  with  the  results  of 
Saturday  morning's  deliberations.  In  his  letter  of  that 
day  he  tells  the  Minister  of  the  great  satisfaction  Congress 
had  expressed  at  the  news  of  his  arrival  and  says  that 
notwithstanding  pressing  business  of  national  importance 
Congress  immediately  took  his  request  into  consideration, 
and  in  order  that  he  might  be  received  before  the  close 
of  the  session  (the  first  Monday  of  November),  Thursday 
the  30th  had  been  appointed  for  the  audience.  The  Presi- 
dent also  enclosed  a  copy  of  the  ceremonial  to  be  used 
on  the  occasion,  and  after  inviting  the  Minister  and  his 
suite  to  dinner  on  Friday,  the  day  after  the  audience,  he 
closed  with  this  apology : 

iPap.  Cont.  Cong.,  149,  Letters  of  B.  Lincoln,  Vol.  3,  p.  261. 
*  The  ceremonial  is  not  published  in  the  Journal,  but  appears  in  the  Secret 
Journal,  Vol.  3  (1821),  p.  410. 

'  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  1 81,  Memorandum  book  1783  (unpaged). 


James  Madison 

[From  the  engraving  by  Leney\ 


THE   DUTCH    MINISTER   ARRIVES  223 

We  feel  ourselves  greatly  mortified,  that  our  present 
circumstances  in  a  small  Country  village,  prevent  us  giv- 
ing you  a  reception  more  agreeable  to  our  wishes  —  But 
I  hope  these  unavoidable  deficiencies  will  be  compensated 
by  the  sincerity  of  our  Joy  on  this  occasion."' 

And  Madison,  whose  ill  humor  was  well-nigh  chronic 
by  this  time  — he  had  that  summer  been  crossed  in  love  — 
felt  constrained  to  comment  on  the  "charming  situation 
in  which  Congress  found  itself"  for  receiving  a  foreign 
Minister,  —  in  an  obscure  village,  undetermined  where 
the  winter  would  be  spent  and  without  even  a  Secretary 
for  Foreign  Affairs.  * 

It  was  indeed  a  sore  trial  to  Congressional  dignity,  but 
President  Boudinot  determined  to  make  the  reception 
and  audience  as  imposing  as  possible.  On  the  twenty- 
fifth  he  wrote  to  Robert  Morris  and  Major  General  Lin- 
coln informing  them  of  the  important  duties  assigned  to 
them,'  and  Morris  deputed  Major  Jackson  to  assist  Lin- 
coln, suggesting  at  the  same  time  that  he  "bespeak  wine 
of  Capt"^  Barney  and  M'  Fitzsimmons  &c."*  At  the  re- 
quest of  Van  Berckel  to  have  the  audience  postponed 
until  Friday  or  Saturday,*  President  Boudinot  named 
Friday,  as  Saturday  would  be  the  last  day  of  their  official 
existence,  and  a  quorum  would  certainly  be  lacking.* 
This  change  of  date  was  accepted  by  Congress  on  the  30th. 

Van  Berckel  called  on  Morris  on  October  28th  to  con- 
sult about  the  journey  to  Princeton  and  the  ceremony/ 

^Pap.  Cont.  Cong,,  i6,  p,  253  ;  Wharton,  Vol.  6,  p,  715. 

*  Madison  to  Randolph,  October  13th.  Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol,  i,  p.  579. 
Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  24. 

'Pap.  Cont.  Cong,,  16,  p.  255  ;  Boudinot,  Vol.  i,  p,  401. 

*  Morris'  Diary,  October  27th,  28th.  This  presumably  was  the  Thomas  Fitz- 
simmons to  whom  the  President  of  Congress  had  paid  three  days  before  ;^22, 
los.,  for  "Clarett," 

'  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  99,  p.  25  ;  Wharton,  Vol.  6,  p.  716. 
^  Ibid.,  16,  p.  256  ;  Wharton,  Vol.  6,  p.  716. 
''  Morris'  Diary,  October  28th. 


224  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

and  gave  him  a  copy  of  the  address  which  he  intended  to 
deliver  in  Congress  and  which  Morris  at  once  sent  to 
Boudinot.^  On  the  29th  an  express  was  hurried  to 
Colonel  Frelinghuysen  with  a  copy  of  Van  Berckel's 
Dutch  credentials  and  a  request  from  Congress  that  he 
"  read  them  over  in  that  language  in  public  at  the  audi- 
ence, before  a  translation  is  read."^ 

To  Major  General  Philemon  Dickinson,  President  Bou- 
dinot  wrote  the  same  day  telling  him  that  the  Dutch 
Minister  was  ' '  to  pass  through  Trenton  tomorrow  noon 
.  .  .  Could  you  not  get  the  Troop  of  Horse  in  your 
Neighborhood  to  turn  out  &  escort  him  from  the  Ferry 
thro'  the  Town  —  It  would  give  reputation  to  the  charac- 
ter of  our  State  abroad  and  it  would  be  increasing  .  .  . 
of  the  business  if  the  Gent"  of  Trenton  were  to  wait  on 
him  as  he  passed  thro,  the  Town.  I  thought  it  my 
duty  as  a  Citizen  of  Jersey  to  give  you  these  few  hints 
which  you  can  improve  on  as  you  think  proper."^ 

On  Thursday  morning,  October  30th,  Van  Berckel 
started  from  Philadelphia  in  his  private  coach,  followed 
by  his  retinue  and  accompanied  by  the  French  Minister, 
M.  de  la  Luzerne,*  and  by  Robert  Morris."  Late  in  the 
afternoon  he  was  met  on  the  road  by  Washington's 
troopers,  and  thus  escorted  he  reached  Princeton  that 
evening.  On  the  outskirts  of  the  village  he  found  Gen- 
eral Lincoln  and  a  party  of  other  gentlemen  waiting  to 
welcome  him,  and  to  conduct  him  to  the  apartments  se- 
lected for  his  use.  His  letters  home  say  that  these  apart- 
ments were  in  the  house  of  the  "  clergyman  "  at  Prince- 

iPap.  Cont.  Cong.,  137,  Vol.  3,  p.  235. 

*  Ibid.,  16,  p.  260. 

*  Boudinot,  Vol.  I,  p.  403.  Dickinson  was  major  general  of  the  New  Jersey 
Militia. 

^Independent  Gazetteer,  November  1st,  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  November Sth, 
etc. 

'  Morris'  Diary,  October  30th. 


THE   DUTCH    MINISTER   ARRIVES  22  5 

ton.^  As  Dr.  Witherspoon  was  pastor  of  the  only  church 
at  Princeton  at  this  time  and  Vice  President  Smith  of 
the  college  was  occupying  the  President's  house  on  the 
campus,  we  must  conclude  that  Van  Berckel  was  lodged 
at  "  Tusculum,"  Dr.  Witherspoon's  private  residence. 
That  night  he  went  to  call  on  President  Boudinot,  and 
the  details  of  the  next  morning's  ceremony  were  finally 
rehearsed. 

The  day  had  been  a  busy  one  at  Princeton.  Besides 
the  action  on  the  cases  of  Richard  Varick  and  Generals 
Knox  and  Bailey  already  mentioned,  that  of  George  Bond, 
deputy  secretary  of  Congress  had  been  considered  and 
the  Superintendent  of  Finance  had  been  directed  to  pay 
him  the  sum  of  $500.^  Amends  were  also  made  for  the 
additional  labor  that  fell  to  the  lot  of  Robert  Patton, 
messenger  of  Congress  during  its  Princeton  session,  by 
granting  him  ten  dollars  per  month  extra  pay  from  June 
2 1st  to  the  date  of  the  adjournment. 

Lest  the  new  Congress  which  would  assemble  on  the 
first  Monday  of  November  should  not  be  able  to  muster 
a  quorum  and  elect  a  president  during  the  few  remaining 

^  Lenox  Library,  Bancroft  MSS. 

*  George  Bond  had  been  appointed  in  November,  1779,  but  his  salary  of  J 1000 
a  year  had  been  inadequate  from  the  start.  He  had  possessed  private  means,  but 
had  now  expended  every  shilling,  and  embarrassed  by  debt  he  found  it  almost 
impossible  to  support  his  wife  and  two  children.  In  May,  1782,  he  had  applied 
for  an  increase  of  salary,  and  in  November  the  committee  on  his  application  had 
reported  it  inexpedient  to  raise  salaries.  In  November  and  December  he  had 
applied  again,  but  nothing  had  been  done.  In  October,  1783,  he  wrote  to  Bou- 
dinot in  reference  to  the  great  additional  expense  incurred  by  him  through  the 
removal  of  Congress  to  Princeton  ;  he  intended  to  resign  and  locate  in  New  York, 
and  hoped  Congress  might  speedily  consider  his  claim.  Charles  Thomson,  his 
chief,  testified  to  his  faithful  and  discreet  service  and  told  the  committee  that  the 
United  States  could  ill  afford  to  let  such  a  man  leave  government  employ  poorer 
than  when  he  entered  it.  The  committee,  Beresford,  Williamson  and  Mercer, 
reported  favorably  on  October  22d,  but  Bond  had  to  spend  another  week  of  uncer- 
tainty before  he  saw  the  report  taken  up.  On  October  30th  the  grant  above  men- 
tioned was  made.  (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  78,  Vol.  4,  pp.  357,  361,  409,  413,  417, 
and  Hid.,  19,  Vol.  i,  p.  397.) 
15 


226  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

days  of  its  stay  at  Princeton,  it  was  ordered  that  if  no 
president  were  elected  by  November  12th,  the  appointed 
date  of  removal  from  Princeton,  the  secretary  should 
adjourn  Congress  to  meet  at  Annapolis  on  the  twenty- 
sixth  as  agreed.  The  request  of  the  Pennsylvania  dele- 
gates for  a  sense  of  Congress  on  the  proposed  conference 
between  that  State  and  the  Indians  was  taken  up  and 
settled,  with  the  result  already  recorded  in  these  pages. 
It  was  ordered  furthermore  that  the  President  send  to  the 
executives  of  the  States  copies  of  the  acts  of  Congress 
respecting  the  proposed  residences  on  the  Delaware  and 
the  Potomac,  and  also  of  the  resolution  on  adjournment. 
A  report  of  Duane,  Gerry  and  Lee  on  a  report  of  Liv- 
ingston regarding  an  agent  or  consul  at  the  Island  of 
Madeira  was  to  have  been  considered,  but  at  present 
there  was  no  time  for  it. 

And  up  at  his  quarters  on  Rocky  Hill,  in  the  "  Blue 
Room  "  overlooking  the  Millstone  valley  all  aglow  in  its 
autumn  foliage,  Washington  that  Thursday  was  putting 
his  signature  to  his  Farewell  Orders  to  the  American 
Army.  In  the  evening  a  horseman  left  "  Rockingham  " 
bearing  the  document  addressed  to  General  Knox.  The 
letter  which  accompanied  the  Orders  told  Knox  that  they 
were  not  to  be  issued  until  November  2d,  and  that 
Washington  himself  would  attend  to  their  publication  in 
the  Philadelphia  papers.^ 

1  Letters  of  WashiDgton,  B,  Vol.  i6,  pt.  2,  No.  293.  The  "Blue  Room" 
was  then,  as  it  is  now,  the  chief  apartment  at  "Rockingham."  On  the  second 
floor  of  the  house  and  opening  onto  the  long  covered  balcony  facing  the  valley,  it 
was  used  by  Washington  as  his  reception  room  and  office.  The  house  has  passed 
through  many  bands  during  the  last  124  years,  and  more  than  once  came  almost 
to  ruin  before  it  was  rescued  in  1896  by  the  patriotic  generosity  of  the  late  Mrs. 
J.  Thompson  Swann,  of  Princeton.  When  she  bought  the  property  it  was  the 
dilapidated  tenement  home  of  between  forty  and  fifty  Italian  quarrymen  and  their 
families.  But  even  then,  amid  all  the  squalor  and  filth,  the  "  Blue  Room  "  was 
kept  unused  and  immaculate.  Its  bare  floors  and  plain  walls,  and  the  blue  dado 
that  gives  it  its  name,  were  spotless,  while  in  one  corner  stood  a  rude  table  on  which 


THE   DUTCH    MINISTER  ARRIVES  22/ 

October  31st  dawned  fair  as  behooved  the  importance 
of  the  day.  But  business  in  Congress  began  tamely 
enough,  although  there  was  much  to  be  done  before 
twelve.  George  Bond  resigned  his  position  as  deputy 
secretary  of  Congress  since  the  condition  of  his  private 
affairs  did  not  allow  him  to  continue  in  public  service. 
Nathan  Jones,  a  clerk  in  the  war  office,  also  resigned  for 
the  same  reason.  Then  the  committee  on  the  memorial 
of  Henry  Remsen,  Jr.,  and  Benjamin  Bankson,  clerks  in 
the  secretary's  office,  which  had  been  read  on  October 
ist,  rather  reluctantly  advised  granting  them  $200  each 
for  their  extra  services  and  expenses.^  These  domestic 
matters  cleared  the  way  for  the  consideration  of  the  con- 
sulship at  Madeira. 

The  report''  of  Duane,  Gerry  and  Lee  was  taken  up 
and  the  resolution  in  accordance  with  the  report  was 
adopted.  It  is  of  interest  as  it  gives  an  insight  into  our 
commercial  affairs  after  the  war,  in  at  least  one  corner  of 
the  globe : 

That  altho'  no  Commercial  Treaty  hath  yet  taken  place 
between  the  Queen  of  Portugal  and  the  United  States, 
your  Committee  are  well  informed  that,  in  Consequence 
of  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  that  Queen  in  1776  for 

day  and  night  a  taper  burned,  a  touching  mark  of  Italian  deference  to  tradition 
and  a  revered  name.  '*  Rockingham"  has  been  carefully  restored  and  is  now  a 
depository  of  Revolutionary  relics,  particularly  Washingtoniana,  and  is  owned  by 
the  Washington  Headquarters  Association  of  Rocky  Hill. 

^The  memorial  had  been  written  and  presented  on  October  ist,  and  had  been 
referred  to  Clarke,  Holten  and  Hawkins.  It  represented  that  the  removal  of 
Congress  to  Princeton  had  "by  enhancing  the  Articles  of  Consumption"  so 
increased  the  cost  of  living  that  the  petitioners  in  their  financial  straits  were  com- 
pelled to  apply  to  Congress  for  relief.  They  had  never  been  reimbursed  for  the 
expenses  incurred  during  the  three  days  while  the  papers  of  Congress  were  being 
transported  from  Philadelphia,  although  the  clerks  of  the  War  and  Pay  Offices 
had  been  granted  sums  to  defray  their  travelling  expenses.  They  hesitated  to 
name  the  amount  which  they  thought  would  be  fair,  but  they  thought  200  dollars 
each  would  "relieve  them  of  their  necessities."     (Pap.  Cont,  Cong.,  41,  Vol.  8, 

p.  335- ) 

''Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  25,  Vol.  2,  p.  319. 


228  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

restraining  the  Commerce  of  the  United  States  with  her 
dominions  —  the  Ships  and  Vessels  of  these  States  are 
permitted  &  do  actually  trade  at  the  Island  of  Madeira 
as  was  usual  before  the  War. 

That  your  Committee  are  further  informed  that  accord- 
ing to  the  Arrangements  established  in  the  Island  of 
Madeira  for  regulating  Trade  no  Vessel  can  be  cleared 
out  without  passing  thro'  the  Office  of  the  Agent  or 
Consul  of  the  Nation  to  which  she  belongs.  That  the 
Clearance  of  the  first  American  Vessell  which  arrived  at 
the  said  Island  after  the  Repeal  of  the  said  Edict  meeting 
with  Obstructions  for  want  of  a  Consul  or  Agent  on 
behalf  of  these  States  the  Governor  thought  fit  to  send 
for  M  Pintard  a  Native  of  the  State  of  New  York 
residing  on  that  Island  and  gave  him  a  Commission  to 
Act  in  the  Character  of  Agent  for  the  United  States  and 
then  directed  the  said  Vessell  to  pass  thro'  his  Office. 

That  your  Committee  are  further  informed  that  the 
British  Factory  in  the  said  Island  regulates  the  prices  of 
Wine  in  which  is  included  a  national  Duty  of  four  hun- 
dred and  sixty  Reis  per  Pipe  which  every  person  who 
Ships  in  British  Bottoms  is  obliged  to  pay  to  the  Consul 
of  that  Nation,  which  Duty  is  applied  to  the  Relief  and 
Support  of  distressed  British  subjects  the  Governor  being 
allowed  annually  a  certain  Sum  from  that  Fund :  That 
under  this  pretext  every  Merch*  who  ships  in  American 
Bottoms  charges  the  same  Duty  and  puts  the  money  in 
his  own  pocket — 

Upon  this  State  of  Facts  your  Committee  are  of  Opinion 
that  tho'  no  Consul  ought  to  be  appointed  at  the  said 
Island  for  the  United  States  untill  the  Treaty  with  the 
Queen  of  Portugal  now  in  Contemplation  shall  be  com- 
pleated ;  Yet  that  it  will  be  of  advantage  to  appoint  an 
Agent  especially  as  it  can  be  done  without  Expence  or 
Inconvenience  And  therefore  your  Committee  submit  the 
following  Resolution  — 

Resolved  that  a  Commercial  agent  be  appointed  to 
assist  the  Merchants  &  other  Citizens  of  these  United 
States  trading  to  the  Island  of  Madeira :  And  that  John 
Marsden  Pintard  be  appointed  Agent  accordingly. 

The  long  delayed  ratification  of  the  contract  entered 


THE   DUTCH    MINISTER   ARRIVES  229 

into  by  Franklin  on  February  25th  with  the  Court  of 
Versailles  for  a  loan  of  six  millions  of  livres,  was  next 
passed.  It  had  been  drawn  up  in  August,  as  the  manu- 
script report  of  Madison,  Wilson  and  Higginson  on  the 
contract  and  the  letter  of  Franklin  of  June  22d  shows. ^ 
Luzerne  sent  in  a  communication  to  enquire  about  it  on 
September  17th.  Ten  days  later  Madison,  Duane  and 
S.  Huntington,  committee  on  this  letter,  reported  that 
they  had  found  the  form  of  ratification,  and  moved  that 
the  French  Minister  be  informed  of  the  fact  and  that  it 
be  transmitted  without  delay  of  the  American  Commis- 
sioners in  France.^  This  report  had  been  adopted  on 
October  2d,  but  formal  ratification  did  not  take  place 
until  the  31st. 

John  Dunlap,  who  had  applied  in  a  letter  of  October 
2  ist  for  the  honor  of  being  allowed  to  remain  government 
printer  in  the  place  where  Congress  would  reside,  was 
reappointed.  ' 

The  long-deferred  claim  of  Thomas  Paine  then  came 
up.  Early  in  June  he  had  requested  of  President  Boudi- 
not  permission  to  lay  before  Congress  an  account  of  his 
services,  and  his  request  was  referred  to  Messrs.  Clarke, 
Peters  and  Hawkins.  He  was  to  have  met  them  on  Mon- 
day, June  23d,  but  the  mutiny  upset  all  the  machinery  of 
government,  and  Congress  left  Philadelphia  so  hastily 
that  Paine  was  not  given  an  opportunity  of  stating  his 
case.  He  mildly  sought  a  hearing,  but  received  no  satis- 
faction until  August,  when  the  committee  delivered  a 
report  (August  15th,  read  on  August  i8th)  wherein  it 
was  stated  that ' '  a  just  and  impartial  account  of  our  interest 
for  public  Fredom  and  happiness  should  be  handed  down 
to  posterity  "  ;  that  this  would  best  be  done  by  an  official 
historiographer,  one  too  "  who  has  been  and  is  governed 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  25,  Vol.  2,  p.  323. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  269. 

^Ibid.,  78,  Vol.  8,  p.  39. 


230  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT  PRINCETON 

by  the  most  disinterested  principles  of  public  good,  totally 
uninfluenced  by  party  of  every  kind  "  ;  that  Thomas  Paine 
had  rendered  invaluable  services  to  the  United  States 
•<  without  having  sought,  received  or  stipulated  for  any 
honors,  advantages,  or  emoluments  for  himself.  That  a 
History  of  the  American  revolution  compiled  by  Mf 
Paine  is  certainly  to  be  desired,"  and  therefore  the  com- 
mittee proposed  that  he  be  appointed  historiographer  to 
the  United  States  at  a  salary  to  be  decided  later.  Accord- 
ing to  James  Cheetham  this  proposition  was  met  with  a 
burst  of  indignation,^  It  was  not  however  withdrawn,  but 
was  allowed  to  lie  on  the  table.  On  September  loth, 
Washington  invited  Paine  to  Princeton  as  his  guest. 
"  Your  presence,"  he  wrote,  *'may  remind  Congress  of 
your  past  services  to  this  Country,  &  if  it  is  in  my  power 
to  impress  them  command  my  best  exertions  with  free- 
dom as  they  will  be  rendered  chearfully  by  one  who  en- 
tertains a  lively  sense  of  the  importance  of  your  Works." 
This  letter  had  been  delivered  to  Paine  by  a  son  of  Colo- 
nel Morgan  and  in  reply  he  had  asked  that  the  considera- 
tion of  his  appointment  as  historiographer  might  be  post- 
poned until  he  could  present  certain  facts  himself ;  he  felt 
hurt  by  the  neglect  of  Congress ;  its  silence  was  akin  to 
condemnation,  and  its  justification  must  be  at  the  expense 
of  his  reputation.  On  October  2d  he  had  sent  to  Wash- 
ington an  account  of  himself  for  transmission  to  the  com- 
mittee on  his  claim,  and  later  in  the  month  followed  it  to 
Princeton.  On  October  31st  the  proposition  of  appoint- 
ing him  historiographer  was  taken  up  and  discussed.  But 
even  the  weight  of  Washington's  influence  was  of  no  avail. 
The  case  was  referred  to  a  fresh  committee,  Messrs.  Car- 
roll, Gerry  and  Ellery,  and  Paine  had  to  suffer  another 
disappointment  and  exercise  further  patience.^ 

'Cheetham,  Life  of  Paine,  1809,  p.  94. 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  55,  pp.  73,  79,  81  ;    19,  Vol.  5,  p.  I  ;    Letters  of  Wash- 
ington, P,  Vol.  3,  no.  512  ;  Letters  to  Washington,  64,  folios  193,  223.     In  M.  D. 


THE   DUTCH   MINISTER  ARRIVES  23 1 

It  was  now  near  noon,  and  at  "  Tusculum "  Van 
Berckel  was  ready  when  Robert  Morris  and  General 
Lincoln  arrived  to  notify  him  that  Congress  was  waiting 
his  presence.  In  his  coach  he  at  once  set  out  for  Prince- 
ton. Just  before  he  reached  the  village  a  horseman  came 
galloping  up  the  highroad  from  the  eastward  and  drew 
rein  at  the  college  campus.  It  proved  to  be  Colonel 
Matthias  Ogden  of  the  ist  New  Jersey  Regiment,  who 
the  afternoon  before  had  landed  at  New  York  in  the  ship 
"Hartford"  from  England.  Learning  that  the  packet 
carrying  the  Definitive  Treaty,  which  had  sailed  on  Sep- 
tember 20th,  had  not  yet  been  sighted,  he  found  that  he 
was  the  bearer  of  the  first  authentic  news  of  the  Treaty's 
signing,  and  he  set  off  express  for  Princeton,  tarrying  at 
Elizabeth  that  night  to  send  letters,  announcing  his  news, 
to  Washington  and  to  Elias  Boudinot.^  Pushing  on  he 
outstripped  the  postboys,  for  Mr.  Boudinot  says  that  the 
Colonel  himself  brought  the  tidings  to  Princeton. 

The  joy  that  he  created  may  easily  be  imagined.  Van 
Berckel  found  himself  in  the  presence  of  a  smiling  com- 
pany when  a  few  moments  later  he  was  ushered  in  by 
General  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Morris,  who  had  met  him  as  he 
alighted  at  the  steps  of  Nassau  Hall. 

In  order  to  accommodate  the  crowd  of  visitors  the 
audience  was  held  in  the  prayer-hall.  Besides  Washing- 
ton and  M.  de  la  Luzerne  there  was  a  large  gathering  of 
military  men  and  "  many  gentlemen  of  eminence,  together 

Conway's  edition  of  Paine' s  Works  (Vol.  4,  pp.  471-472)  is  an  interesting  account 
of  the  experiment  Washington  and  Paine  made  in  the  Millstone  at  Rocky  Hill  of 
stirring  the  muddy  river  bed  and  setting  fire  to  the  gas  thus  liberated,  as  it  reached 
the  surface  of  the  water,  in  this  manner  corroborating  what  seems  to  have  been  a 
local  saying  that  the  river  could  be  set  on  fire. 

^New  York  Gazette,  November  1st ;  Letters  to  Washington,  64,  folio  320  and 
Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  78,  Vol.  17,  p.  361.  The  treaty  did  not  arrive  until  after 
Congress  had  adjourned  from  Princeton  and  Mr.  Boudinot' s  term  of  office  had 
come  to  an  end.  He  was  no  longer  a  member  when  it  was  ratified  in  the  follow- 
ing January. 


232  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

with  a  number  of  ladies  of  the  first  character."^  The 
doors  of  the  hall,  by  special  order  of  Congress,  were  left 
open  during  the  audience  so  that  those  who  could  not 
gain  admission  might  at  least  hear  the  addresses. 

Morris  and  Lincoln  conducted  the  Dutch  Minister  to 
the  chair  placed  in  front  of  the  President  of  Congress. 
The  members  were  seated  by  States  and  uncovered. 
Elias  Boudinot  wore  his  hat,  but  Van  Berckel  was  bare- 
headed. On  being  introduced  he  read  the  following 
address:^ 

Messieurs  du  Congres! 

Avant  que  je  Vous  expose  la  commission  dont  Mes- 
seigneurs  les  Etats  Generaux  des  Pais-bas  Unis  m'ont 
honor6  permettez  moi  que  je  fasse  6clater  la  joye,  que  me 
cause  la  satisfaction,  de  me  trouver  aujourdhui  dans  cette 
Assembl6e,  et  d'y  rencontrer  de  ces  hommes  illustres,  que 
le  Siecle  pr6sent  admire,  que  la  posterit6  se  proposera  tou- 
jours  pour  module  de  Patriotisme,  et  dont  r6ternit6  m6me 
ne  saura  que  r6compenser  les  merites. 

Pendant  que  toute  I'Europe  tenoit  les  yeux  fix6s  sur  Vos 
exploits,  Leurs  Hautes  Puissances  ne  pouvoient  que  S'y 
interesser  tr^s  serieusement,  se  souvenant  toujours  des 
dangers  et  des  vicissitudes,  que  Leurs  peres  ont  du  subir, 
avant  que  de  pouvoir  s'affranchir  du  joug,  ou  ils  etoient 
attaches :  Elles  connoissent  mieux  que  tout  autre,  la  va- 
leur  d'une  liberty  independante,  et  savoient  justement 
apprecier  la  grandeur  de  Vos  desseins :  Elles  applaudis- 
soient  aux  entreprises  genereuses,  inspir6es  par  I'amour 
de  la  Patrie  entamees  avec  prudence,  et  soutenues  avec 

1  William  Gordon,  History  of  the  .  .  .    United  States,  Vol.  3  (N.  Y.  1789)  p. 

374. 

*The  documents  relating  to  the  Dutch  Minister's  audience  are  found  in  a 
volume  labelled  "  Letters  of  Van  Berckel,"  (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  99).  Folios 
9-1 1  contain  a  translation  of  the  Minister's  Address  in  Secretary  Thomson's 
handwriting  ;  folios  29-30,  President  Boudinot' s  reply  with  his  autograph  correc- 
tions ;  folios  31-33,  the  Address  of  the  States  General  to  the  United  States  ;  folios 
34-36,  the  same  signed  and  sealed  ;  folios  37-40,  translation  of  the  Address  of  the 
States  General  ;  folios  41-43,  Van  Berckel's  French  address  ;  folios  45-46,  Presi- 
dent Boudinot' s  rough  draft  of  his  reply. 


THE   DUTCH    MINISTER  ARRIVES  233 

un  courage  heroique :  Elles  se  rejouissent,  a  la  fin,  du  suc- 
ces  heureux,  qui  couronne  Vos  travaux. 

Pour  vous  convaincre  de  Leur  affection,  et  de  la  part 
qu'Elles  prennent  dans  ce  qui  regarde  Votre  Republique, 
mes  Maitres  m'ont  charg6,  Messieurs,  de  Vous  feliciter 
de  raccomplissement  de  Vos  desirs,  qui  ^toient,  de  faire 
valoir  Votre  determination  absolue,  et  de  jouir  de  ce 
tr^sor  inestimable  &  naturel,  qui  Vous  place  au  rang  des 
Puissances  Souveraines  &  Independantes. 

Qu'il  est  flatteur  pour  moi,  de  me  trouver  aujourdhui 
I'organe  et  I'interpr^te  des  Sentimens  et  des  dispositions 
de  mes  Maitres,  et  de  pouvoir  Vous  assurer  de  Leur  part, 
qu'Ils  ne  souhaitent  rien  plus  ardemment  que  le  bonheur 
de  Votre  Republique,  et  I'affermissement  de  TUnion  de 
Vos  Etats!  Puisse  cette  union,  fond6e  sur  les  principes 
du  vrai  Patriotisme,  et  de  I'amour  du  bien  public,  telle- 
ment  se  cimenter,  que  ni  la  fausse  ambition,  ni  la  jalousie 
ni  I'inter^t  particulier  ne  soyent  jamais  en  etat,  d'y  porter 
la  moindre  atteinte !  Puisse  I'administration  d'un  gouv- 
ernement  sage  et  prudent  fixer  la  prosperit6  et  I'abon- 
dance  au  milieu  de  ce  Peuple,  et  le  combler  d'une  gloire, 
qui  n'ait  d'autres  bornes  que  celles  des  deux  Poles,  ni 
d'autre  terme,  qui  celui  des  Si^cles. 

Leurs  Hautes  Puissances,  Messieurs,  ne  se  contentent 
pas  de  Vous  faire  uniquement  des  complimens  de  felicita- 
tions, qui  par  euxmemes  ne  sont  que  tr^s  steriles :  mais 
convaincues,  qu'un  Commerce  mutuel,  et  une  bienveuil- 
lance  reciproque  sont  les  moyens  les  plus  siirs,  pour  res- 
serrer  de  plus  en  plus,  ces  sacr6s  liens  d'amiti6,  qui  Vous 
unissent  deja,  Elles  m'ont  ordonn6,  de  Vous  temoigner, 
qu'Elles  n'ont  rien  plus  a  coeur,  que  de  travailler  effi- 
cacement,  a  rendre  cette  Amiti6,  fertile  &  fructueuse,  et 
de  contribuer  tout  le  possible  k  I'aggrandisement  d'un 
Alli6,  dont  Elles  se  promettent  les  m^mes  efiforts. 

Voila  I'esquisse,  mais  encore  une  esquisse  bien  foible  & 
defectueuse  des  Sentimens  de  mes  Maitres,  dont  la  Sin- 
cerit6  surpasse  I'expression,  mais  qui  pourtant  se  manifesto 
dans  les  Lettres  que  je  viens  de  Vous  remettre  de  Leur 
part :  Voilk,  Messieurs,  voilk  le  but  de  la  Mission,  dont 
lis  m'ont  honor6 ;  puisse-je  dignement  repondre  a  Leur 
attente,  et  gagner  au  m6me  tems  Votre  Affection  et  Votre 


234  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

confiance,  qui  me  sont  si  necessaires,  pour  r^ussir  dans 
mes  enterprises !  Quant  a  moi,  sans  ruse  et  sans  artifice, 
j'agirai  toujours  avec  cette  droiture,  cette  candeur,  et 
cordialite  qui  font  le  Caract^re  distinctif  d'un  vrai  Re- 
publicain,  et  qui,  par  la  meme,  me  sont  autant  de  titres 
et  de  Surs  garants,  de  parvenir  a  ce  point  de  mon  ambi- 
tion, qui  est,  de  m'acquerir  les  suffrages  du  Congres, 
I'amitie  de  ceux  qui  le  composent,  et  I'estime  de  toute  la 
Nation  Americaine. 

Then  taking  his  seat  he  handed  his  credentials  to  his 
secretary,  who  in  turn  handed  them  to  Charles  Thomson, 
the  Secretary  of  Congress.  The  latter  passed  them  on  to 
Colonel  Freylinghusen,  whose  Dutch  ancestry  had  made 
him  the  official  interpreter  for  the  day,  and  he  read  them 
in  the  original.  Charles  Thomson  then  read  a  translation. 
President  Boudinot  now  rose  and  taking  off  his  hat  read 
this  response : 

Sir. 

In  a  Contest  for  the  rights  of  human  Nature,  the  Citi- 
zens of  [the  united  States  of]  ^  America  could  not  but  be 
impressed  with  the  glorious  Example  of  those  illustrious 
Patriots,  who  triumphing  over  every  Difficulty  &  Danger, 
established  the  Liberties  of  the  united  Netherlands  on  the 
most  honorable  &  permanent  Basis  — 

Congress  at  an  early  Period  of  the  War,  sought  the 
Friendship  of  their  high  Mightinesses ;  convinced  that  the 
same  inviolable  Regard  for  Liberty,  and  the  same  Wis- 
dom Justice  &  Magnanimity,  which  led  their  forefathers 
to  Glory,  was  handed  down  unimpaired  to  their  Posterity. 
And  [great  was  our  Pleasure]  ^  our  Satisfaction  was  great 
in  accomplishing  with  them  a  Treaty  of  Amity  &  Com- 
merce, on  terms  so  acceptable  to  both  Nations.  — 

[It  is  Sir  with  the  highest  Satisfaction,  that]  ^  With  the 
sincerest  Pleasure,  Sir,  we  receive  the  honorable  Testi- 
monials of  the  Confidence  &  Esteem  of  their  High  Mighti- 
nesses, and  their  affectionate  Congratulations  on  the 
Success  of  our  Efforts  in  the  sacred  Cause  of  Liberty, 
[which  you  have  this  day  presented]  ^ 

^  Bracketed  words  struck  out. 


THE   DUTCH    MINISTER   ARRIVES  235 

We  assure  you  Sir,  that  it  is  our  earnest  desire  to  unite 
with  their  High  Mightinesses  in  every  Measure,  which  can 
promote  the  most  unreserved  Confidence  and  the  most 
friendly  intercourse  between  the  two  Nations  who  have 
[supported]  ^  vindicated  their  freedom  ^  amidst  the  most 
trying  Scenes  of  Danger  and  Distress,  and  have  been 
equally  blessed  by  the  gracious  Interposition  of  divine 
Providence  with  that  Sovereignty  and  Independence  so 
essential  to  their  Safety  and  Happiness. 

Governed  by  the  same  ardent  Love  of  Freedom,  and 
same  Maxims  of  Policy,  cemented  by  a  liberal  System  of 
Commerce  and  earnestly  disposed  to  advance  our  mutual 
Prosperity  by  a  Reciprocity  of  good  Offices ;  we  persuade 
ourselves  that  the  most  friendly  and  beneficial  Connection 
between  the  two  Republics  will  be  preserved  inviolate  to 
the  latest  Ages^ 

It  adds  Sir,  greatly  to  our  Pleasure  on  this  interesting 
Occasion  that  their  High  Mightinesses  have  employed  as 
their  minister  a  Gentleman  so  highly  celebrated  for  Recti- 
tude and  Patriotism,  and  from  whose  illustrious  Family 
these  united  States  have  received  the  most  distinguished 
Proofs  of  Regard  and  Friendship. 

President  Boudinot  handed  the  manuscript  of  this  ad- 
dress to  Secretary  Thomson,  by  whom  it  was  given  to 
the  Minister,  and  the  latter  punctiliously  rose  to  receive 
it.  This  was  the  cue  for  the  approach  of  Robert  Morris 
and  General  Lincoln,  who  then  conducted  the  Minister 
back  to  his  coach,  while  Congress  resumed  business  with 
a  sigh  of  relief  that  no  hitch  had  marred  the  complete 
formality  of  the  occasion. 

Van  Berckel  reached  his  apartments  in  safety  and  well 
pleased  ;  but  he  had  no  sooner  got  indoors  when  the  faith- 
ful committee^  on   arrangements   appeared   again,   this 

^Here  Boudinot' s  own  draft  ends  and  the  address  is  completed  in  another 
hand. 

*  Robert  Morris  was  in  Princeton  only  a  day  and  a  half,  but  he  spent  his  time 
well.  He  notes  in  his  diary  of  November  2d  that  besides  attending  the  ' '  public 
entertainments"  in  honor  of  Van  Berckel,  he  visited  many  members  of  Congress 
and  General  Washington,  and  had  a  conference  with  a  committee  of  Congress  on 
the  Dutch  loan  "  which  they  promised  not  to  meddle  with." 


236  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

time  to  invite  him  formally  to  the  state  banquet  ordered 
in  his  honor.  This  was  served  either  at  Christopher 
Beekman's  tavern  or  at  President  Boudinot's  house. 
Over  fifty  covers  were  laid,  and  Mr.  Boudinot  did  the 
honors.  In  the  evening  General  Washington  called  at 
*  *  Tusculum  "  with  a  number  of  officers  to  pay  his  respects. 
The  next  day  the  members  of  Congress  called,  and  Presi- 
dent Boudinot  gave  another  dinner  of  fifty  covers,  which 
Washington  paralleled  on  Sunday  afternoon  by  inviting 
Van  Berckel  and  most  of  the  members  of  Congress  and 
officers  in  the  neighborhood  to  dine  with  him  at  "  Rock- 
ingham." Nothing  was  left  undone  that  could  erase 
any  unfavorable  first  impressions  Van  Berckel  may  have 
received.  The  close  of  the  session  was  marked  by  a 
round  of  the  liveliest  festivities  in  his  honor.  He  was  in 
Princeton  only  five  days,  but  the  first  thing  he  did  on 
his  return  to  Philadelphia  was  to  write  home  to  his  Gov- 
ernment for  more  money,  so  sadly  had  his  funds  been 
depleted  by  banquets  and  wines,  which,  as  he  says,  the 
social  honor  of  his  country  demanded  that  he  provide 
during  his  brief  stay  in  the  little  village  of  Princeton.^ 

And  Mr.  Boudinot  who  was  writing  to  the  American 
Commissioners  at  Paris,  with  probably  unconscious 
humor  remarked  that  the  Dutch  Minister  appeared  to  be 
"a  person  very  much  suited  to  the  manners  of  the 
American  people." 

^See  Van  Berckel' s  letters  in  Lenox  Library,  Bancroft  MSS.  Holland  and 
America,  Vol.  I. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   END    OF  THE   SESSION 

At  the  village  post  office  on  the  night  of  Friday  the 
31st  occurred  the  only  untoward  incident  that  is  to  be 
charged  against  the  community  during  the  stay  of  Con- 
gress in  its  midst. 

At  about  nine  o'clock  a  mailbag,  which  was  lying  on 
the  counter  and  contained  all  the  mail  for  the  east,  together 
with  $3,500  in  Morris'  notes  and  $2,800  in  Michael  Hil- 
legas'  notes,  besides  all  of  Washington's  recent  corre- 
spondence which  he  was  forwarding  to  Colonel  Varick 
to  be  copied,  was  stolen  by  a  person  or  persons  unknown. 
While  the  post  rider,  James  Martin,  a  man  of  untarnished 
record,  was  in  the  rear  room  talking  over  the  events  of 
the  day  with  John  Harrison,  the  postmaster,  some  one 
entered  the  office,  blew  out  the  solitary  candle  that  lighted 
it,  and  made  off  with  the  bag.  Harrison  and  Martin  at 
once  went  around  to  the  various  local  resorts  where  they 
thought  they  might  find  the  thief,  but  in  the  darkness 
and  rain  pursuit  was  fruitless,  and  they  then  reported 
the  robbery  to  President  Boudinot.  He  decided  that 
nothing  could  be  done  that  night,  but  the  next  day  he 
informed  Congress  of  the  affair.  In  view  of  the  scarcity 
of  money  the  loss  of  the  notes  fell  peculiarly  hard,  and 
Washington  had  something  to  say  about  the  stupidity  of 
the  local  officials.  The  Postmaster  General  was  directed, 
on  motion  of  Mr.  EUery,  to  inquire  into  the  circumstances 
of  the  robbery,^  while  the  notes  were  at  once  advertised 
in  the  papers. 

A  few  days  later  as  Dr.   Witherspoon's  farmhand,  a 

^Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  4,  275. 

237 


238  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT  PRINCETON 

Scotchman  named  William  McLean  who  had  formerly 
been  a  soldier  in  the  British  army,  was  bringing  home 
the  doctor's  cows,  he  saw  a  portmanteau  lying  in  the  ditch 
bordering  the  meadow.  He  called  a  negro,  appropriately 
named  Fortune,  and  together  they  carried  the  find  up  to 
the  house  where  John  Witherspoon,  Jr.,  the  Doctor's  son, 
discovered  that  it  was  the  lost  mailbag.  McLean,  who 
could  neither  read  nor  write,  had  not  even  heard  of  the 
theft.  The  bag  was  returned  to  the  general  post  office 
and  its  contents  were  found  to  be  intact,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  private  letters  written  by  Congressmen, 
which  had  been  opened.^ 

The  Postmaster  General  reported  on  November  22d, 
exonerating  Martin  and  Harrison,^  but  the  committee  on 
his  report,  Messrs.  Gerry,  Howell  and  McComb,  offered 
a  reward  of  $300  for  the  detection  of  the  culprit,  and 
recommended  that  all  the  documents  in  the  case  be  referred 
to  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  with  instruc- 
tion to  investigate  rigidly  the  conduct  of  Harrison  and 
Martin.'  Jonathan  Deare  and  Judge  Olden  of  Princeton 
were  appointed  by  Governor  Livingston  to  conduct  the 
local  investigation ;  but  they  elicited  no  damaging  testi- 
mony, although  they  drew  £4.  15s.  for  their  services  and 
disbursements.  In  May  of  the  next  year,  Governor  Liv- 
ingston reported  the  complete  exoneration  of  the  local 
postal  authorities,  and  the  matter  was  dropped.*  In  1791 
Harrison  became  treasurer  of  the  college,  and  subse- 
quently trustee  and  treasurer  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
at  Princeton,  so  that  his  reputation  in  the  community  does 
not  seem  to  have  suffered. 

iPap.  Cont.  Cong.,  68,  p.  621,  et  seq. 

*  Ibid.,  61,  p.  155. 
»/<JtV/.,  19,  Vol.  3,  p.  83. 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  C,  Vol.  5,  p.  58,  and  P,  Vol.  3,  p.  213  ;  Journal, 
November  ist,  1783,  and  January  6th,  April  6th  and  May  nth,  1784;  Pap. 
Cont.  Cong.,  36,  Vol.  4,  p.  343. 


THE    END    OF   THE    SESSION  239 

On  Saturday,  November  ist,  in  spite  of  President 
Boudinot's  fears  to  the  contrary,  a  quorum  was  present 
and  business  of  interest,  if  not  of  great  importance,  was 
transacted.  Charles  Thomson  was  ordered  to  provide 
General  Greene  with  a  clerk  to  copy  for  permanent  record 
his  history  of  the  southern  campaign.  To  Lieutenant 
Richard  FuUerton,  who  had  fought  with  conspicuous 
bravery  at  Long  Island,  Trenton  and  Princeton  and  had 
served  with  distinction  in  various  appointments  in  the 
southern  army,  was  awarded  a  brevet  commission  of  cap- 
tain as  a  reward  for  his  meritorious  conduct;  and  in 
answer  to  the  memorial  of  William  Stewart,  a  lieutenant 
in  Hazen's  Second  Canadian  Regiment,  who  had  been 
engaged  in  suppressing  trade  and  intercourse  with  the 
enemy,  and  now  found  himself  far  from  home  and  pressed 
by  poverty,  the  Superintendent  of  Finance  was  ordered  to 
advance  to  him  two  months'  pay.^  Robert  Morris  was 
also  directed  to  inform  the  Farmers  General  of  France,  to 
whom  a  balance  of  846,770  livres  was  still  owed  by  the 
United  States,  and  whose  letter  of  July  to  Franklin  pro- 
posing that  the  principal  be  paid  in  tobacco  —  they  waived 
all  interest  on  the  debt^  —  had  been  forwarded  to  Con- 
gress by  Morris  on  September  15th,  and  referred  then  to 
a  committee  reporting  November  ist,  that  the  United 
States  thanked  them  for  their  generosity,  and  that  as  soon 
as  the  revenue  measure  of  the  preceding  April  should  take 
effect  the  interest  accruing  on  the  balance  due  to  the 
Farmers  General  would  be  punctually  remitted,  and  that 
if  this  were  not  satisfactory,  the  United  States  begged 
them  to  be  assured  that  all  possible  endeavors  would  be 
made  to  discharge  the  principal  as  soon  as  the  state  of 
public  finances  would  admit. 

A  long  report,  delivered  on  October  29th  by  Messrs. 

>Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  78,  Vol.  21,  p.  337,  and  19,  Vol.  5,  p.  419. 
^Ibid.,  26,  p.  461. 


240  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

Carroll,  Duane  and  S.  Huntington,  on  the  vital  question 
of  improving  the  attendance  of  members,  was  now  spread 
on  the  minutes  and  it  was  resolved  hereafter  to  have  a 
call-over  of  the  States  every  morning  at  eleven,  and  to 
send  regularly  a  copy  of  the  record  to  the  State  Execu- 
tives in  order  that  they  might  be  kept  posted  on  the 
attendance  of  their  representatives.^ 

Captain  John  Paul  Jones,  ^  who  had  announced  his  readi- 
ness to  go  to  Europe  as  prize  agent  for  the  United  States 

'  Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  23,  p.  145  ;  Journal,  November  1st.  This  expedient 
failed  of  it  purpose,  as  the  history  of  the  first  few  weeks  of.  the  next  Congress 
shows ;  and  in  February  of  the  following  year  Luzerne,  writing  to  Rayneval, 
adverts  to  the  trouble  and  gives  the  excuses  which  he  had  heard  for  non-attend- 
ance. In  almost  Biblical  phrase  he  says  :  "  L'un  6tait  oblig^  d'aller  chez  lui  pour 
prendre  soin  de  son  enfant  malade,  un  autre  pour  se  marier,  un  troisi^me  avait 
des  affaires  personnelles  tr^s  pressantes.  J' en  rencontrai  un  qui  m'a  dit  que  sa 
femme  le  rappelai."      (Bancroft  MSS.  Arch.  Franc,  1783-85,  p.  169.) 

*  Jones  had  written  to  Morris  on  October  13th,  and  to  Congress  five  days  later, 
recalling  attention  to  the  interests  of  the  officers  and  men  who  had  served  on  the 
"  Bonhomme  Richard  "  under  his  command  four  years  ago  ;  only  45  of  the  170 
Americans  in  the  crew  had  received  their  wages.  Nothing  had  been  done  for  the 
others  in  wages,  bounties  or  prize  money,  nor  had  any  steps  been  taken  to  make 
good  the  losses  they  may  have  sustained  privately  when  the  "  Bonhomme  Richard  " 
sank.  He  had  applied  again  and  again  for  consideration  ;  he  had  "  wrote  volumes  " 
to  Franklin  and  De  Sartine,  but  he  was  sent  back  and  forth  from  one  to  the  other, 
and  never  received  satisfaction.  The  balance  due  was  27,667  livres.  In  his  letter 
of  October  13th  to  Morris,  he  had  enclosed  a  copy  of  the  communication  he  had 
made  to  Robert  Livingston  about  the  matter  on  May  loth,  1782,  and  from  which 
he  had  achieved  no  results.  He  hoped  Congress  would  take  the  matter  up.  He 
also  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  Denmark  had  sent  back  to  England  toward 
the  end  of  1779  two  22  gun  ships,  the  "  Union  "  of  London,  and  the  "  Betsey  "  of 
Liverpool,  both  richly  laden,  which  he  had  sent  to  the  port  of  Bergen  as  prizes. 
Denmark  had  a  right  to  refuse  asylum,  but  none  to  return  them  to  England.  Now 
that  Great  Britain  had  acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  United  States,  he 
hoped  Congress  would  take  such  effective  measures  as  would  obtain  acknowledg- 
ments to  the  American  flag,  and  also  secure  justice  to  his  officers  and  men.  In 
his  letter  of  October  l8th  to  Congress  on  the  same  subject,  he  had  made  his  offer 
to  go  to  Europe.  To  the  two  vessels  mentioned  in  his  letter  to  Morris  he  now 
added  a  brigantine,  which  he  had  omitted  to  mention  before,  but  which  had  been 
forced  out  of  American  hands  by  the  Danish  government  and  restored  to  Great 
Britain.  His  letters  were  referred  to  Samuel  Huntington,  Arthur  Lee  and  James 
Duane,  and  they  reported  on  October  29th.  Their  report  was  not  taken  up  until 
November  1st.     (Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  Vol.  3,  pp.  207,  211,  215,  305.) 


THE   END   OF  THE   SESSION  24I 

and  enforce  the  claims  of  his  country,  was  recommended 
to  Franklin  in  that  capacity,  and  transportation  for  him 
in  the  ship  •*  Washington  "  was  provided. 

Elias  Boudinot's  last  official  act  was  to  write  a  re- 
sponse to  a  letter  of  good  will  and  congratulation  from 
the  Burgomasters  and  Senate  of  the  Imperial  Free  City 
of  Hamburgh,  which  had  been  delivered  to  Congress  a 
few  days  before  Van  Berckel's  reception  by  a  special 
envoy,  John  Abraham  de  Boor.^  The  letter  was  com- 
mitted to  the  consideration  of  S.  Huntington,  Arthur 
Lee  and  James  Duane.  In  consonance  with  their  report 
of  October  29th,  President  Boudinot  was  ordered  to 
communicate  in  terms  of  the  most  sincere  regard  the 
satisfaction  given  by  the  letter,  and  the  committee  was 
instructed  to  confer  with  de  Boor  on  the  subject  matter  of 
the  missive.^    President  Boudinot's  letter  read  as  follows : 

Princeton  i'*  Nov.  1783. 
Gentlemen : 

I  have  the  Honor  of  acknowledging  the  Receipt  of 
your  very  respectful  &  polite  Letter  of  the  29  March  last, 
by  the  Hands  of  your  Faithful  Citizen  &  Missionary  Mf 
De  Boor  —  Congress  received  this  very  generous  &  can- 
did Communication  with  all  that  Pleasure  &  attention 
which  so  great  Proffers  of  Friendship  from  the  honorable 
the  Burgomasters  &  Senate  of  the  Imperial  Free  City 
Hamburg,  justly  demanded  from  the  United  States  of 
America  — 

Congress  did  not  delay  to  take  this  honorable  tender 
of  the  affection  and  Esteem  of  the  worthy  Burgomasters 
&  Senate  under  their  immediate  Consideration  and  I  am 
now  honored  by  the  Commands  of  Congress  to  make 

*For  text  see  Wharton,  Vol.  6,  p.  351. 

*Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  25,  Vol.  2,  p.  307,  Ibid.,  16,  p.  266,  and  Boudinot,  Vol. 
2,  p.  II.  President  Boudinot's  own  draft  is  in  the  Princeton  Collection  of  the 
Library  of  Princeton  University,  and  from  this  the  above  is  taken.  It  is  endorsed 
by  its  author  : 

"  Original  by  Capt.  Barney 
Duplicate  delivered  to  Mr.  du  Boor." 
16 


242  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

known  to  the  Respectable  Representatives  of  this  great 
&  Imperial  City,  "  in  Terms  expressive  of  the  most  sin- 
cere Regard,  the  high  satisfaction  with  which  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled,  received  the  annunciation 
of  their  Friendship  &  Attachment  and  their  affectionate 
congratulations  on  the  Establishment  of  the  liberty  and 
Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America.  —  That 
having  founded  the  Commercial  System  of  these  States 
on  the  Basis  of  Equality  &  Reciprocity,  Congress  will 
cheerfully  meet  the  wishes  of  the  Burgomasters  &  Senate 
of  Hamburg  and  unite  with  them  in  encouraging  the 
most  friendly  intercourse,  between  the  Citizens  of  the 
Respective  Countries  on  such  liberal  Principles  as  will 
best  promote  their  mutual  advantage  and  prosperity,  and 
that  it  is  the  earnest  Prayer  of  the  United  States  in  Con- 
gress assembled  that  the  Imperial  Free  City  Hamburgh 
may  Continue  to  encrease  in  Commerce  &  Splendor  and 
be  blessed  with  uninterrupted  Tranquility  —  " 

It  is  with  the  most  sensible  Pleasure  I  make  this  Com- 
munication, and  hope  &  pray  that  a  solid  foundation  will 
be  laid,  for  the  firm  establishment  of  Friendship  &  Com- 
munion between  the  Citizens  of  our  Republics  — 

May  God  Almighty  keep  the  honorable  Burgomasters 
&  Senate  of  the  Imperial  Free  City  Hamburg  in  his  holy 
Protection. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  with  Sentiments  of  high  Re- 
spect &  Esteem 

Gent"  Your  most  Obed*  and  very  Hble  Serv* 
Elias  Boudinot, 
President  of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled. 

That  afternoon  the  session  came  to  a  formal  end  with 
Mr.  Holten's  motion  that  the  several  matters  before  Con- 
gress be  referred  over  and  recommended  to  the  attention 
of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  to  meet  at 
Princeton  on  Monday  the  3d  instant. 

On  Monday  morning,  November  3d,  the  new  Congress 
met  and,  seven  States  being  represented,  proceeded  to  the 
election  of  a  new  President.  The  honor  fell  on  Thomas 
Mifflin  who  was  not  present.     Daniel  Carroll  was  chosen 


THE   END   OF   THE   SESSION  243 

temporary  chairman,  and  then  Mr.  Duane,  seconded  by 
Mr.  McHenry,  moved  the  customary  resolution  of  thanks 
to  the  outgoing  President,  in  testimony  of  Congressional 
approbation  of  his  conduct  in  the  chair.  The  chairman, 
on  motion  of  Dr.  McHenry,  was  directed  to  adjourn  Con- 
gress on  the  6th  to  meet  at  Annapolis  on  the  26th, ^  thus 
changing  the  arrangement  made  in  October.  But  on 
Tuesday,  November  4th,  the  6th  was  altered  to  read  the 
4th,  and  when  adjournment  took  place  that  afternoon  — 
just  after  Thomas  Jefferson  arrived  to  take  his  seat  — 
Princeton  ceased  to  be  the  nation's  capital. 

•Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  23,  p.  153. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

A   RETROSPECT 

During  the  tedious  wait  until  Congress  assembled  at 
Annapolis,  thoughtful  men  had  ample  time  to  consider 
calmly  the  events  of  the  past  six  months  —  the  mutiny 
and  its  causes,  the  flight  of  Congress  from  Philadelphia, 
and  the  session  at  Princeton  —  and  having  reached  con- 
clusions, to  predict  the  future.  With  that  future  we  need 
not  concern  ourselves ;  but  we  may  at  least  look  back  over 
that  summer's  history  before  we  leave  its  chronicle.  Much 
of  it  was  sufficient  to  cloud  the  prospect  of  the  States 
signatory  to  the  "  league  of  friendship,"  as  the  Confeder- 
ation styled  itself.  During  the  course  of  the  war,  and 
particularly  in  the  period  immediately  after  its  close,  the 
term  "  friendship  "  had  grown  to  be  largely  a  misnomer. 
Scarcely  a  man  in  Congress  or  in  official  position  had  failed 
to  encounter  the  friction  existing  between  the  various  sec- 
tions of  the  country ;  and  in  quick  succession  had  also 
occurred  the  Mutiny  of  1781,  the  Newburgh  episode,  and 
the  Mutiny  of  1783  —  menaces  of  an  army  driven  in  despe- 
ration to  turn  against  its  own  creators. 

Of  these  three  incidents  the  second  has  received  wide 
attention ;  it  seems  as  though  the  part  played  by  Wash- 
ington had  given  it  a  dramatic  quality,  a  picturesqueness 
lacking  in  the  others.  And  yet  of  the  trio  the  mutiny  of 
1783  alone  reached  culmination.  On  no  other  occasion 
in  the  history  of  the  American  people  has  Congress  as  a 
body  been  in  such  actual  physical  danger  at  the  hands  of 
its  own  constituents.  That  it  was  a  disgraceful  episode 
must  be  acknowledged,  disgraceful  alike  in  its  occurrence 
and  in  its  cause.     It  is  impossible  to  excuse  the  men  par- 

244 


A   RETROSPECT  24$ 

ticipating  in  it  whatever  one's  feeling  of  sympathy  may 
be.  As  Washington  pointed  out,  they  were  but  recruits 
and  soldiers  of  a  day ;  they  had  not  borne  the  heat  and 
burden  of  the  war  and  in  reality  they  could  have  had  but 
few  hardships  to  complain  of  when  compared  with  the 
veterans  whom  he  was  furloughing.^  These  facts  could 
not  be  better  stated ;  but  in  his  anger  against  the  recruits 
Washington  forgot  that,  had  it  not  been  for  his  own  timely 
presence  at  Newburgh,  a  course  of  procedure  not  very 
different  in  its  gravity  from  that  of  the  Lancaster  levies 
would  surely  have  been  pursued  only  a  few  weeks  earlier 
by  his  very  veterans  themselves.  Their  wavering  loyalty 
had  been  restored  by  the  quiet  force  of  his  words.  Those, 
however,  who  attempted  by  parley  to  quell  the  mutiny 
at  Lancaster  and  Philadelphia  were  jeered  at  to  their  faces 
and  openly  threatened ;  but  the  soldier  —  recruit  or 
veteran  —  who  would  have  dared  to  jeer  at  the  Com- 
mander in  Chief  to  his  face  did  not  exist.  In  other  words, 
had  there  been  a  Washington  at  the  Quaker  capital  it  is 
improbable  that  the  mutineers  would  ever  have  reached 
the  doors  of  the  State  House ;  and  the  members  of  Con- 
gress would  not  have  found  themselves,  in  the  couplet  of 
Philip  Freneau, 

"  Sovereigns  besieged  by  angry  men. 
Mere  prisoners  in  the  town  of  Penn." 

The  pitiful  helplessness  of  a  Confederation  which  could 
allow  its  governing  body  to  be  placed  in  the  anomalous 
position  which  Freneau  so  aptly  hits  off  could  not  have 
been  more  strikingly  revealed. 

Congress  was  not  to  blame  for  its  inability  to  pay  off 
its  army ;  the  fault  lay  in  the  neglect  of  the  States  to 
make  payment  possible,  a  neglect  far  less  excusable  than 
the  mutiny  itself.  The  truth  was,  men  had  become  de- 
moralized by  the  condition  of  armed  truce  that  succeeded 

'Washington  to  Boudinot,  June  24th,  1783.  Boudinot,  Vol.  I,  p,  339  and 
Sparks,  Vol.  8,  p.  455. 


246  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT    PRINCETON 

warfare,  and  when  peace  at  length  came  they  had  laid 
aside  patriotism  and  were  too  eagerly  gathering  up  the 
unravelled  threads  of  their  former  lives  to  give  attention 
to  an  army  whose  usefulness  was  now  gone.  Let  that  be 
the  business  of  others,  they  said ;  as  for  us  we  must  get 
together  what  little  we  can  of  the  remnant  of  our  private 
concerns,  and  settle  down  to  enjoy  peace  after  war ; 
what  if  taxes  are  overdue?  let  them  wait  until  we  are 
again  on  our  feet.  In  theory  the  colonies  had  rebelled 
against  unjust  taxation  —  the  very  word  was  odious;  and 
now  ere  the  fruit  of  victory  was  fairly  in  their  hands  they 
were  being  taxed,  and  that  right  heavily,  by  their  own 
representatives  in  Congress  assembled ;  and  they  kicked 
against  the  pricks.  There  was  no  solidarity  of  interest, 
no  breadth  of  view,  no  national  spirit ;  and  already  there 
had  appeared  those  sectional  antipathies  which  were  to 
meet  fourscore  years  later  in  the  clash  of  arms  on  the 
battlefields  of  the  Civil  War.  The  republic  had  scarcely 
breathed  its  first  breath  and  it  could  not  realize  its  new 
responsibilities;  for  they  were  greater  than  it  had 
dreamed,  and  had  been  as  it  were  forced  upon  it. 

As  for  the  "  flight  of  Congress,"  watchers  of  the  times 
jotted  the  story  down  in  their  diaries  along  with  their 
weather  observations,  and  discussed  it  in  their  wordy 
letters  to  one  another.  They  understood  full  well 
its  deeper  significance ;  they  knew  that  it  meant  deca- 
dence. The  opinion  of  the  American  public  at  large  has 
been  hinted  at  in  an  earlier  chapter ;  but  there  was 
another  class  of  opinion  which  interested  men  in  public 
life  far  more,  and  for  which  they  waited  with  no  little 
misgiving  —  the  opinion  of  Europe.  Whether  the  provo- 
cation of  the  "  flight  "  were  sufficient  or  not  was  perhaps 
debatable ;  but  it  was  plain  that  the  gravity  of  the  episode 
at  this  early  point  in  the  nation's  history,  when  viewed 
from  the  standpoint  of  international  status,  could  scarcely 


A    RETROSPECT  247 

be  exaggerated.  The  wisdom  of  the  departure  from 
Philadelphia  was  at  least  questionable.  It  may  have 
been  true  that  the  situation  of  Congress  had  become 
almost  unbearable  —  it  certainly  was  not  very  desirable, 
as  Benjamin  Hawkins  and  Hugh  Williamson,  representa- 
tives from  North  Carolina,  wrote  back  to  their  Governor. 
It  may  have  been  true,  as  these  gentlemen  declared,  that 
members  found  themselves  sent  from  home  to  seek  lodg- 
ing in  a  city  where  they  had  neither  control  nor  jurisdic- 
tion, and  where  they  were  exposed  to  the  importunities, 
if  not  to  the  insults,  of  creditors  whom  they  could  not 
pay,  and  even  to  the  bayonets  of  a  mutinous  soldiery 
whom  they  could  not  discharge.^  Indeed,  the  prime 
reasons  assigned  for  the  departure  may  have  been  valid 
—  namely,  to  discount  the  plans  of  the  mutineers  and  to 
rouse  the  State  authorities  to  a  sense  of  their  duty  at  least 
as  the  hosts  of  the  nation's  representatives ;  but  with 
peace  only  two  months  old  and  the  treaty  with  Great 
Britain  not  yet  formally  concluded,  with  all  the  great 
national  questions  and  policies  practically  untouched,  the 
flight  of  Congress  could  not  help  but  be  the  severest  blow 
possible  to  the  prestige  of  the  newborn  nation.  It  was 
regrettable  enough  that  Congress  should  have  been  put 
to  flight  by  a  fraction  of  the  army  which  had  won  for  the 
country  its  liberty;  but,  that  Congress  in  the  capital 
itself  could  not  compel  the  lifting  of  a  single  hand  for  its 
protection,  was  nothing  less  than  a  public  confession  that 
it  had  no  power  wherewith  in  time  of  peace  to  assert 
even  its  slender  authority  ;  it  was  a  tacit  acknowledgment 
that  the  Confederation  had  outlived  its  efficiency.  This 
was  the  impotence  that  a  long-headed  minority  in  Con- 
gress had  wished  to  hide  from  keen  eyes  and  listening 
ears  closely  attentive  to  American  a£Fairs,'  an  impotence 

•  State  Records  of  North  Carolina,  Vol.  16,  p.  854. 

*See  Madison  to  Randolph,  July  8th,  1783,  Gilpin's  Madison,  Vol.  I,  p.  554, 
Hunt's  Madison,  Vol.  2,  p.  2 ;  Hamilton  to  Dickinson,  Hamilton,  Vol.  i,  p.  381. 


248  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

which  naturally  enough  was  the  first  conclusion  drawn 
by  foreign  observers  from  the  story  of  the  mutiny. 
Hamilton  had  foreseen  this  conclusion  in  his  conference 
with  the  Pennsylvania  State  Council  before  the  issuance 
of  the  proclamation  of  departure  from  Philadelphia,  and 
it  was  to  cure  this  impotence  that  he  drew  up  at  Prince- 
ton his  set  of  resolutions  calling  for  a  constitutional  con- 
vention to  revise  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  resolu- 
tions which  in  disgust  at  the  apathy  of  the  majority,  or 
in  hopelessness  of  their  passage,  he  never  offered. 

It  was  not  long  before  echoes  of  the  mutiny  came  from 
Europe.  Vergennes,  learning  of  the  affair  from  Luzerne, 
remarked  that  it  was  "  une  chose  infinement  facheuse, 
parcequ'il  produit  des  scenes  qui  portent  atteinte  a  I'au- 
torite  comme  a  la  consideration  du  Corps  representant 
les  Treize-Etats."^ 

From  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette  President  Boudinot 
received  a  letter  in  which  occurs  this  paragraph : 

"Upon  Many  Points  lately  debated,  My  opinions,  if 
worth  a  Remark,  are  well  and  Generally  known.  But  I 
must  frankly  Add  that  the  Effect  Some  late  transactions 
Have  Upon  European  Minds  Cannot  but  Make  me  Un- 
easy—  in  the  difficulties  which  a  Patriotic,  and  Deserv- 
ing Army  Have  Met  with,  Europeans  Have  Been  Misled 
to  See  a  Wane  of  Public  Gratitude  —  in  the  Opinions  that 
Have  from  Every  Quarter  Been  Started,  Europeans 
Have,  I  also  Hope,  Mistaken  Partial  Notions  for  a  Wane 
of  disposition  to  the  foederal  Union  —  and  without  the 
Union,  Sir,  the  United  States  Cannot  preserve  that  dig- 
nity, that  Vigour,  that  power,  which  insures  the  Glory, 
the  Happiness  of  a  Great,  Liberal,  and  independant  Na- 
tion—  Nay,  it  would  become  our  ill  fate,  of  us  who  Have 
Worked,  fought,  and  Bled  in  this  Cause,  to  see  the  United 
States  a  prey  to  the  Snares  of  European  politics."^ 

Professor  Sumner  has  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 

1  Bancroft  MSS.  Archives  franQaises,  1783-85,  p.  87. 

'Pap.  Cont.  Cong.,  156,  p.  360,  Nancy,  September  7th,  1783. 


A   RETROSPECT  249 

financial  uneasiness  consequent  upon  the  mutiny  reduced 
the  amount  of  American  bonds  sold  in  Holland  during  the 
summer  and  autumn  of  1783  from  195,000  florins  in  July 
to  70,000  in  August,  25,000  in  September,  and  10,000  in 
October.^ 

The  American  Ministers  at  Paris,  Adams,  Franklin, 
and  Jay,  declared  that 

the  situation  of  the  army,  the  reluctance  of  the  people 
to  pay  taxes,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  Congress 
removed  from  Philadelphia,  have  diminished  the  admira- 
tion in  which  the  people  of  America  were  held  among  the 
nations  of  Europe,  and  somewhat  abated  their  ardor  for 
forming  connexions  with  us  before  our  affairs  acquire  a 
greater  degree  of  order  and  consistence.^ 

An  American  lady  in  England  wrote  to  her  Philadel- 
phia friend  that  it  was  laughable  to  see  what  pleasure 
lighted  up  the  countenances  of  a  certain  class  of  persons 
when  they  heard  the  news  of  "the  little  riot"  in  Phila- 
delphia ;  "  they  magnified  it  into  the  annihilation  of  Con- 
gress and  the  utter  destruction  of  the  Commonwealth."' 
And  Henry  Laurens  found  his  presence  in  London  most 
timely  in  "explaining  or  attempting  to  explain"  the 
mutiny.  The  enemies  of  the  United  States  were  chuck- 
ling over  the  story  and  exulting  in  the  discomfiture  of 
Congress  while  the  friends  of  America  were  fearing  the 
worst.  It  was  believed,  he  said,  that  the  soldiery  "  had 
assumed  the  reins  of  government,  and  that  all  the  States 
of  America  were  rushing  into  anarchy."*  Sir  Guy  Car- 
leton,  who  at  New  York  had  better  opportunities  for  form- 
ing an  opinion,  wrote  to  Lord  North  as  late  as  October 
13th  of  the  "  distracted  State  of  these  provinces."  Ac- 
cording to  his  information  "  men  of  all  parties  consider 

'Sumner,  Vol.  2,  p.  113. 

*  To  Boudinot,  September  loth,  Wharton,  Vol.  6,  p.  689. 

'Letter  of  September  6th,  in  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  November  19th,  1 783. 

*  To  the  American  Ministers  at  Paris,  August  9th,  Wharton,  Vol.  6,  p.  640. 


250  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

another  Revolution  inevitable,  and  at  no  great  distance ; 
they  all  agreed  that  Such  an  event  is  the  only  remedy 
that  can  prevent  their  ruin ;  but  they  differ  widely  in 
their  Several  views  and  political  Schemes,"  Some  of 
those  even,  said  he,  who  were  fierce  republicans  were 
convinced  that  the  present  system  would  have  to  be 
changed ;  but  according  to  him  this  party  was  on  the 
decline.  Many  turned  their  eyes  to  Washington  and 
looked  on  him  as  the  only  man  able  to  rescue  the  country 
from  anarchy  and  destruction ;  these  men  were  suppos- 
edly under  French  influence.  On  the  other  hand,  con- 
tinued Sir  Guy,  there  were  not  a  few  who  boldly  asserted 
that  a  king  was  indispensable  ' '  to  the  tranquility  and  good 
government  of  a  Country  so  extensive,  and  so  divided  by 
local  prejudice  and  views  of  so  separate  interest."^ 

It  was  not  surprising  that  these  should  have  been  the 
opinions  of  outsiders  and  foreign  onlookers,  hostile  or 
friendly.  They  were  expected,  and  when  through  the 
sluggish  channels  of  communication  of  that  day  they  at 
length  reached  the  ears  of  those  in  authority  in  this 
country,  they  caused  after  all  but  little  comment  and  less 
resentment.  Congressmen  perhaps  went  a  little  more 
seriously  about  their  business  in  Nassau  Hall,  while  the 
better  men  among  them  resolved  to  see  to  it  that  the 
Republic  should  live  down  the  odium  and  cast  back  in  the 
teeth  of  her  deriders  these  slighting  comments  on  her 
weakness.  Before  that  day  came,  however,  five  years 
were  to  pass. 

Half-hearted  and  dilatory  though  the  Princeton  session 
was,  yet  the  time  was  not  altogether  wasted.  Whether 
as  much  or  more  would  have  been  accomplished  had  Con- 
gress remained  at  Philadelphia  is  an  open  question.  Cer- 
tain is  it  that  the  same  amount  of  work,  petty  detail 
though  most  of  it  was,  would  not  have  been  done  save 

*  Carleton  Papers,  36,  America,  Vol.  2,  p.  257. 


A   RETROSPECT  2$  I 

with  far  more  friction.  Looking  back,  the  members 
might,  if  they  pleased,  congratulate  themselves  on  the 
discharge  of  the  army  with  some  show  of  decency  on  the 
one  side,  and  a  certain  amount  of  satisfaction  on  the  other. 
The  Peace  Establishment  problem  had  not  been  solved, 
but  Washington  had  been  formally  thanked  for  his  services 
as  Commander  in  Chief,  the  federal  residence  question  ap- 
parently had  been  settled,  and  a  long  advance  had  been 
made  toward  the  cession  of  public  lands  to  the  United 
States  and  the  inauguration  of  amicable  relations  with  the 
Indians.  Important  treaties  had  been  ratified,  a  foreign 
Minister  had  been  received  with  due  ceremony,  and  the 
first  halting  steps  had  been  taken  by  the  United  States 
toward  the  occupation  of  a  ranking  place  among  the 
nations  of  the  world.  Saddled  with  a  debt  that  seemed 
overwhelming,  stripped  of  practically  all  commerce,  it 
was  only  the  buoyant  heart  which  independence  gave 
that  nerved  the  finer  spirits  of  the  country  to  face  the 
future  resolutely  and  make  of  that  country  what  Wash- 
ington had  so  eloquently  described  in  his  Circular  Letter. 
It  was  plain  that  he  had  hit  the  mark  when  he  declared 
that  the  first  prerequisite  to  the  well-being  of  the  United 
States  was  that  there  should  be  an  indissoluble  union 
under  one  federal  head.  But  first  a  union;  and  in  1783 
there  was  scarcely  any.  It  was  a  striking  fact  brought 
to  light  by  the  Congressional  committee  on  representa- 
tion reporting  November  ist,  that  on  no  occasion  since 
the  Continental  Congress  had  come  into  existence  were 
all  the  States  represented  together.  Often  they  had  ne- 
glected to  elect  representatives;  representatives  when 
elected  had  loitered  in  their  coming,  and  after  they  had 
come  had  frequently  absented  themselves  from  their  seats. 
Nor  was  this  condition  of  affairs  chargeable  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1783  to  the  fact  that  Congress  had  left  its  city 
home  and  gone  into  village  residence.     The  same  fault 


2  52  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT  PRINCETON 

was  prevalent  when  Congress  was  sitting  at  Philadelphia ; 
and  later  at  Annapolis  it  was  to  cause  so  much  delay  that 
the  French  Minister  described  it  at  some  length  in  a  dis- 
patch to  his  government.  So  obviously  important  a 
piece  of  business  as  the  ratification  of  the  Definitive 
Treaty  was  delayed  until  almost  too  late  by  the  absence 
of  a  quorum  to  take  it  from  the  table.  A  constitution 
that  could  not  command  a  larger  respect  and  a  greater 
unity  of  interest  was  proof  sufficient  of  its  own  ineffici- 
ency, and  its  dissolution  or  its  remodelling  formed  a  di- 
lemma from  which  there  was  no  escape. 

But  the  time  had  not  yet  come ;  and,  as  if  compelled 
by  a  power  mightier  than  itself  to  humble  any  latent 
pride  it  may  have  cherished  in  the  marvel  of  its  birth, 
the  nation  was  to  sink  lower  in  its  own  esteem  and  drink 
even  more  deeply  of  the  cup  of  self-humiliation.  The 
Mutiny  of  1783  was  but  the  beginning  of  the  darkest  hour 
before  the  dawn  —  the  dawn  that  should  set  the  Union 
straight  upon  its  upward  path. 


APPENDIX 


253 


APPENDIX  I 

PRESIDENT   BOUDINOT'S  ACCOUNT   WITH    THOMAS 
STOCKTON   OF   PRINCETON^ 


His  Excellency  the  President  of  Congress, 

To  Thomas  Stockton  Df. 
1783 
June  26.  For  i  Side  of  Lamb  7/,  i  Gall :  Wine  8/  1 5-  — 

"     27.   10^  lb  Veal  a  3>^^  3/1  I  qu' Lamb  3/6         6     7 

I  Peck  Beans,  &  4  qut«  Pease  2/6 2     6 

17  11)  Lump  Sugar  a  1/3 113 

1 5  lb  Butter  I /- 15—  254 


30 


July 


28.  yi  bush:   Beans  3/.  50  Limes  ^16 10  — 

3  Pine-apples  7/6  iqu'.  Lamb  3/9 11     3 

7  ft)  Veal  2/4  6  Score  Eggs  6/ 8     4 

29.  6  Chickens,  4/6  15^^  ft)  mutton  6/7....  ii     i 
17  ft)  Veal  a"  4/ 5     8 

14X  1^  d°  4/9  I  qu'  Lamb  3/6 

3  quts  Pease  1/6.  i  Peck  Beans  1/6 

I  doz :  Cucumbers  3/-  5  qts  Pease  2/6 
30  turnips 

14^  ft)  mutton  6/.  4  Chickens  3/ 9  — 

15   ft)  Veal  5/- 11^  ft)  Fish  4/9 9     9 

7  Gall :  Spirits  a  7/6  &  Keg  &  6/6 2   19 

*7  Ducks  J 1 10  I  qu'  Veal  16  ft)  5/4....  n     2 

I  qu'   Lamb 3     6 

'  ii}4  fb  Butter  1 1  /6.    8  Bunches  Onions 

3/ H     6 

I  Peck  Peas  4/-  i  Tongue  2/ 6  — 


8     3 
3 
5     6 

2 


10  Chickens  10/-  i  Bush:  Beats  15/..   i     5  — 
I  doz:  Chickens  9/ 66  ft)  beef  a  8^  44/-  2  13  — 


'Lenox  Library,  Emmett  Collection. 


I     9  7 

16  9 

18  9 

3  17  9 


4  18     6 


255 


256  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

July    4.   33  Chickens  24/9  40  Cucumbers  10/ ...  i   14     9 

"      5.  *  20  lb  Tallow  30 \  5  K)  Fish  2/1 i   12     i 

"      7.  6  lb  Butter  6/  yi  Peck  Pease  1/6 7     6 

*  yi  Gallon  Vinegar 16  9  — 

"      8.   i6>^  K)  Veal  6/3  1  qu' Lamb  3/ 9     3 

8  doz  :  Cucumbers  13/  lb  Chickens  7/61     06  i     99 

"      9.   16^  lb  Veal  6/3  14  lb  mutton  5/10 12     i 

18  Chickens  13/6  Beets  &  Onions  7/6..   i     i  — 

1  Gall :  Wine  8/6  Score  Eggs  2/ 10     6 

Cash   paid  Jeremiah  Sheldon  bringing 

up  2  Barrels  flour 9  —  2127 

^23  14     6 
Amount  brought  over 23  14     6 

1783- 

July  10.  For  16  lb  Veal,  5/4,  12  lb  Fish  4/6 9  10 

^^  bush  :  Pease  3  / .  2  quts  shelled  ditto  2  /         5 

lyi  lb  Butter  2/6  20  Chickens  15/ 17     6 

3 X  Pecks  Beets  8/6  200  Clams  3/ 11     6  2     3  10 

"    II.  Head&pluckof  Veal5/ 9^  lb  Veal3/2  8     2 

yi  Bushel  Potatoes 6  —  14     2 

"     12.    16  lb  Butter  16/  i  Score  Eggs  1/2 17     2 

3  lb  Raisins  3/  i  Peck  pease  1/6 4     6 

2  doz:  Cucumbers  2/  i  lb  Pepper  4/-..  6  — 

yi  lb  Allspice  1/6  i  doz:  Squashes  2/..  36  i   11     2 

"     14.    I  doz:  Cucumbers  1/  5  lb  butter  5/ 6  — 

(>yi  lb  Butter 6     6  126 

"     15.   5  doz  :  Cucumbers  5/  2  lb  Starch  1/6..  6     6 

yi  lb  Indico  4/6  4|^  lb  Soap  7/- 11     6 

^  Bush  :  Potatoes  12/-  16  lb  Veal  5/4  17     4 

1  qua":  Lamb  3/.  4  Squashes  2/ 5  —  204 

"     16.   Pease,  Beets  Cucumbers  &  Onions 9     6 

32  lb  Mutton  12/2  10;^  lb  Butter  10/6..   128  i   12     2 

"    17.  6  Chickens  3/9  I  »^  Pecks  Pease  4/- ...  7     9 

2  Score  Eggs  2/-  3  Squashes  1/ 3  — 

61b  Sugar  3/9  i  Peck  Pease  i/io 5     7 

j^yi  lb  Butter  3/6  i  Score  Eggs  i/- 46  i     o  10 


APPENDIX    I  257 

July  1 8.  9   lb   Fish   4/6  paid   M"   Rutman   for 

Work  7/6 12  

"     19.   I   Peck  Turnips,   i   Peck  Potatoes  &  6 

Cucumbers 5     6 

6  bush  :  Com  45/  5;^  lb  Butter  5/6....  2  10     6  2  16  — 

£36  17     6 

His  Excellency  the  President  of  Congress 

To  Thomas  Stockton    JD" 
1783 

July  21.  For  r  Ton  Hay 5 

I  doz  :  Cucumbers i  —  51  — 

22.  4  doz  :  ditto  &  3  Melons 6  — 

10  lb  Veal  3/4  6  Chickens  4/6 7   10 

I    Peck  Beans,  4   Cucumbers    &   half 

peck  Pease 26  16     4 

23.  10  Chickens  6/8.     Pease  &  Squashes  2/         8     8  8     8 

25.  10  quarts  Pease  3/.     2  Doz:  Cucum- 

bersi/ 4  — 

26.  10  R)  Veal  3/4.     S)4  lb  Butter  8/6 ix   10 

I  Score  Eggs i  —  12   10 

27.  12  C.  Hay  60/.      I  doz:  Squashes  1/6..  316 

28.  I  }i  doz  :  Cucumbers  9"!     1 5  lb  Mutton 

5/7 6     4 

30.  io)4  lb  Bacon  10/6     i}4  bush:  pota- 

toes 11/3 , 119 

2  doz  :  Cucumbers i  —  129 

31.  I  qu' Lamb  3/6    i>^  bush  :  potatoes  1 1/3  14     9 
Aug*  2.   2  Doz:  Cucumbers  1/6    1  doz :  Squashes 

1/ 2  - 

iX  C'  Flour  a  23/-     34/6  Barrel  2/6..   i   17  — 

i}4  lb  Butter  1/6     15  lb  Mutton  5/7...         71  26 

4.  2  ft)  Butter  2/,     i^Gs.  Rum9/-     3^ 

Butter  3/9 14     9 

Sundries  of  Stephen  Morford  viz* 

3  lb  hard  Soap  4/.     ^  doz  :  pipes  1/ 5  — 

4  K)  boi :  do  5/11     2  fb  Starch  1/4 73  12     3 

Mending  Geers  &c  by  N  :  Morford 19     3 

^i7~~o~6 
17 


258 


CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 


July   3 


July  15 


27 
29 

31 
Aug*  I 


2     I   io}4 


II 
6 

7 

9 
I 


Through  Thomas  Stockton  President  Boudinot  also  had  the 

FOLLOWING   account  WITH  MAHLON  TaYLOR. 

1783.  June  27  To  17 )4^^  Loaf  Sugar  @  1/3     2  Gall.  ") 

Port  wine  @  8/6  2  Juggs  3/ j 

29  To  70  Gallons  Port  Wine  @  8/16.     e'" 

@i/- 

To  i""  Pepper  3/9     i  oz  Cinnamon  3/ 

5  yi   Score  Eggs  @  i  /     2'''  Raisins  @  i  /- 
I  oz  Nutmegs  2/-     i  Baskett  Salt  i/ioj^ 

6  Bottles  Mustard  @  18^ 

3  large  dishes  ©6/9     i  peck  Salt  1/2.. 
i""  Tea  5/6    Sundry  Queen's  &  Earthen- 
ware 8/9 

I     Sweeping    Brush    4/6     i     Scrubbing 

ditto  3/6 

I  Furniture  ditto  i/.     i  p''  Shoe  ditto  & 

Black  ball  3/6 

50^;'  4  oz  Loaf  Sugar  @  16,* 

I  peck  Salt  14*     6'"  Sugar  @  7;^^ 

5  Gallons  wine  @  8/ 

Yi  G.'.  Brandy  @  6/ 

6"'  Sugar  @  11?     \^  Sousong  Tea  12/ 


14     3 


4 
7 
4 
o 

3 
17 


6 
o 
II 
o 
o 
6 


,^17     I     7 


APPENDIX  II 


SIGNERS   OF  THE   QUAKER   MEMORIAL   TO  CONGRESS* 


Isaac  Lane  Zane  (?) 
John  Reynell 
Tho"  Rose 
John  Price,  Jun' 
Hugh  Roberts 
Joseph  Penrose 
Isaac  Pickering 
William  Harvey 
Joshua  Morris 
Daniel  Haviland 
Joshua  Brown 
George  Evans 
Thomas  Whitson 
Anthony  Benezet 
James  Thornton 
Warner  Mifflin 
Saml  Emlen,  jun' 
Daniel  Byrnes 
Geo  Dillwyn 
Jam" :  Pemberton 
Jacob  Lindley 
Thoma  Lightfoot 
Mark  Reeve 
William  Savery,  Jun  *■ 
John  Hoskins 
George  Churchman 
Thomas  Milhous 
Wm  Kersey 
David  Cooper 
Benj:  Swett 
Owen  Jones 
Eli  Yarnall 
David  Evans 
Silas  Downing 
Aaron  Lancaster 
Edw<*  Stabler 
James  Moon 
Benjamin  Swain 
Samuel  Coope 
Allen  Farquhar 
Joshua  Baldwin 

'  See  page  i8i  ante. 


John  Cowgill 
Mark  Miller 
John  Comfort 
William  Smith 
Jno.  Stapler 
Francis  Wilkinson 
Tho'  Hoopes,  Jun' 
Giles  Knight,  Jun'' 
Isaac  Massey 
Joshua  Bunting 
James  Dugh 
William  Rogers 
James  Smith 
Christopher  HoUings- 

worth 
Joseph  Bringhurst, 
Joseph  Hawley 
John  Berry 
Tho?  Smedley  Jf 
James  Emlen 
James  Whitall,  Ju' 
William  Cooper 
Benjamin  Linton 
Thomas  Pearson 
Owen  Hughes 
Daniel  Sharpless 
Jn°  Birchall 
Abner  Rogers 
Thof,Swayne 
Benj  a.  Hamton 
Solomon  Miller 
Mord!  Churchman 
Caleb  Kimber 
John  Stapler,  Juf 
Wm.  Wilson 
Thompson  Parker 
Miers  Fisher 
Ab™  Griffith 
John  Milhous 
Thomas  Matthews 


Joseph  Janney 
Nathan  Garrett 
Ez!  Cowgill 
Joseph  Townsend 
Samuel  Trimble 
William  Griscom 
Jonathan  Wright 
Thomas  Evans 
Enoch  Wickersham 
Jacob  Swayne 
William  Webster 
John  Lynn 
Isaac  Coats 
Richard  Strode 
Jonas  Cattell 
Joshua  Hunt 
Caleb  Pennock 
DanI  Drinker 
W"  Fell 
W^  Dixon 
William  Richardson 
Nathan  Wright 
William  Iddings 
John  Parry 
William  Stevenson 
Enoch  Gray 
Amos  Harvey 
Joshua  Dennock 
Richard  Brown 
Josiah  Bunting 
Job  Whitall 
John  Gracy 
Joel  Chesshir 
Morris  Truman 
Isaac  Wilson 
David  Moore 
Thomas  Follett 
Samuel  Haines 
William  Savery 
Henry  Cowgill 


Names  queried  are  doubtful  readings. 
259 


26o 


CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 


John  Hough 
Joshua  John 
Tho'  Say. 
Benjamin  Mason 
James  Starr 
Sam!  Hopkins 
John  Tatum 
Jonathan  Kirkbride 
Thomas  Conarroe, 

Sen'. 
Joseph  Pennock 
John  Parker 
Richard  Barnard 
Thomas  Redman 
Jo'.  Steer  Jun"^ 
Jacob  Starr 
Hugh  Webster 
Jacob  Way 
Sam  :  Shinn 
Richard  Bartlett 
Caleb  Moris 
Townsend  Thomas 
W."  Downing 
Moses  Coates 
Jn?.  Flower 
Joseph  Moore 
David  Ridgway 
James  Iddings 
James  Griffitts 
John  Beale 
Elisha  Kirk 
W?  Penrose 
Samuel  Smith 
Mahlon  Janney 
David  Hall 
Sam!  White 
Joseph  Peirce 
Aaron  Paxson 
Tho'.  Evans 
Peter  Yarnall 
Sam!  Gummere 
Thomas  Walmsley 
William  Roberts 
Mord :  Moore 
Griffith  Minshall 
Refine  Weekes 
Benjamin  Hough 
Israel  Thompson 
Sam!  Allinson 


John  Humphreys 
Samuel  Bunting 
Philip  Price 
Robert  Verrel 
Mordecai  Lee 
Sam!  Wetherill 
Aaron  Smith 
Sam!  Starr 
Daniel  Thompson 
John  ColUns 
Jonathan  Brown 
Abraham  Hibberd 
Robert  French 
Abraham  Worinton 
Dugald  Cameron 
Isaac  Bonsall 
Samuel  Hampton 
Joseph  Stackhouse 
John  Child 
Zachariah  Jess 
Samuel  MUler 
James  Tyson 
Benjamin  Test 
Joseph  Richardson 
Jehu  HoUingsworth 
Jacob  Worley,  pf  order 
George  Haworth 
James  Smith  J"" 
Joseph  Clark 
John  Talbot 
Joseph  Warrington 
John  Hunt 
William  Doughty 
Henry  Hayes 
Ezra  Comfort 
William  Miller 
John  Eves 
Caleb  Attmore 
John  Lypton 
Aaron  Wills 
Isaac  Clarke 
John  Butler 
Edmund  Prior 
James  Bringhurst 
Thomas  Farquhar 
Joseph  West 
Joseph  Lukens 
Sam!  Clark 
Thomas  Fisher 


Benedict  Dorsey 
Joseph  Potts 
Sam!  Garrigues 
Ja  Gibbons 
Isaac  Larkin 
Joseph  Brinton 
John  Field 
John  Lewden 
David  Bacon 
Thomas  Hough 
John  Townsend 
Gideon  Middleton 
John  Gilbert 
Geo:  Ashbridge 
Sam!  Brown 
John  Roberts 
Robert  Kirkbride 
Jos:  Pickering 
David  Hoopes 
Richard  Poynter 
Caleb  Haines 
W^  Hallowell  jun^ 
Tho!  Attmore 
Phinf  Buckley 
James  Whiteall 
Jon"  Wright 
Robert  Rogers 
Jeffrey  Smedley 
Lucas  Gibbs 
Griffith  John 
Philip  Price,  junt 
John  Ferree  (Ferrel  ?) 
Thomas  Rogers 
Amos  Willets 
John  James 
John  Simpson 
Henry  Cliffton 
Aaron  Oakford 
Samuel  Hutton 
Norris  Jones 
Caleb  Harlan 
Nathan  Robbins 
David  Gumming 
Sam!  Pleasants 
Benj.  Hornor 
W"-  EUis 

Jonathan  Shoemaker 
John  Hilliar 
Joseph  Davies 


APPENDIX    II 


261 


Constantine  Lord 
Rumford  Dawes 
Thomas  Paxson 
Robert  Evans 
Cowperthwaite   Cop- 
land 
William  Sansom 
Arthur  Howell 
Caleb  Kirk 
Isaac  Thomas 
Daniel  Longstreth 
John  Forman 
Daniel  Dickenson 
Samuel  Cookson 
Simes  Betts 
Joseph  Budd 
Richard  Jones 
Jacob  Lundy,  jun'' 
Gabriel  Willson 
Tho!  Watson 
John  Home 
James  Starr 
John  Letchworth 
Edward  Darnel 
Jesse  Haines 
Isaiah  Kirk 
Sam!  Richards 
John  Parrish 
Enoch  Evans 
James  Cresson 
John  Hutton 
John  Pugh 
George  Martin 
John  Satterthwait 
Joshua  Gibbs 
Tho!  Hallowell 
Jos :  Russell 
John  Todd 
Thomas  Shoemaker 
Jacob  Maule 
Caleb  Foulke 
Joshua  Howell 
John  Morton 
Charles  West 
Edward  Bradway 
Sam!  Simpson 
Thomas  Pim 
Jacob  Shoemaker 
Edward  Jones 


Harmon  Updegraff 
Bernard  Taylor 
Thomas  Carey 
Thomas  Stapler 
John  Peirce 
John  Laing 
Edward  Jones 
Samuel  Canby 
Samuel  Hedger 
Aaron  Clayton 
Thomas  Fisher 
Thomas  Bellanger 
W.  Linton 
Vincent  Leeds 
Richard  Price 
Thomas  Massey,  J"' 
Ebenezer  Robinson 
AndT  McKay 
Joseph  Roberts 
John  Collins 
Dani  Offley 
Barth?  Mather 
Isaac  Jacobs 
Christopher  Dingle 
Daniel  Leeds 
Joshua  Sharpies 
Samuel  Darnel 
Jos  :  Sharpless 
W^  Jefferis 
Jesse  Waterman 
WiUiam  Cliffton 
Sami  Middleton 
Joseph  James 
John  Roberts 
Joshua  Cresson 
John  Balderston 
Philip  Dennis 
Ephraim  Parvin 
Henry  Drinker 
Silas  Walmsley 
John  Ellis 
Willf  Hartshorne 
Jo*  Ridgway 
Peter  Hatton 
John  Scarlet 
Jona"":  Pickering 
John  Wright 
Cadwalader  Jones 
Owen  Biddle 


Edward  Bonsall 
Moses  Moon 
Thomas  Rogers,  jun' 
Lewis  Darnel 
Isaac  Cadwallader 
Benjamin  Kite 
Thomas  Stokes 
William  Atkinson 
Sam!  Howell 
Henry  Shaw 
Cha?  Dingee 
Ezekiel  Cleaver 
Rich"!  Humphreys 
John  Smith 
Amos  Taylor 
Isaac  Webster 
Edward  Moore 
Abijah  Dawes 
Joshua  Way 
Benjamin  Humphreys, 

pf  order. 
John  Carpenter 
James  Painter 
William  Cooper,  Jun' 
Devenport  Marot 
Joseph  Vanlaw 
William  Hoopes 
Thomas  Brown 
Richard  Goodwin 
Cheyney  Jefferis 
John  Hirst 
John  Elliott,  jun! 
Joseph  Jenkins 
W"  Jackson,  Junr 
John  Drinker 
Rob!  Wood 
Jos:  Shotwell,  junf. 
Benjamin  Cathrall 
Caleb  Seal 
Daniel  Britt 
Pierce  Lamb 
David  Allen 
John  Evans 
William  Otley 
John  Hunt,  JnJ 
Dell  Pennell 
Sam'  Updegraff 
Hugh  Ely 
Jacob  Shoemaker,  jun"" 


262 


CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 


Henry  Brotherton 
James   Thornton, 

junior 
John  Rively 
Abel  James,  juny 
Ellis  Cleaver 
Joseph  Ball 
Josiah  Furman 
Amos  Yarnall 
John  Guest 
Jacob  Chestnutwood 
Robert  Moore 
William  Garrigues 
Edward  Garrigues 
Thos'  Franklin 
Ebenezer  Maule 
Raper  Hoskins 
Jeremiah  Bernard, 

jun! 
John  Forsythe 
Jonathan  Dawes 
Tho^  Sharpless 
Hum^  Marshall 
Jonathan  Gibbs 
Thomas  Clififord 
Gerard  Blackford, 

Jun?: 
Benj.  Clarke 
William  Letchworth 
Jonathan  Worril 
Rob'  Lewis 
Caleb  Lownes 
John  Duncan 
Evan  Lewis 
John  Haworth 
Peter  Ellis 
Thomas  Fearnley 
Edmund  HoUinshead 
Richard  Wells 
Isaac  Wharton 
Nathan  Sharpless 
Thomas  Speakman 
Isaac  James 


William  Folwell 
Joseph  Burrough 
Zachariah  Stirredge 
Cornell  Stevenson 
Thomas  Trotter 
Job  Haines 
Robert  Thomas 
John  Franklin 
Nathan  Lewis 
Henry  Reynolds 
Thomas  Roger,  Junf 
Thof  Sugar 
William  Ridgway 
Isaac  Wright 
Joseph  Talbot 
Isaac  Paxson 
David  Hilles 
John  Todd,  j! 
Abiah  Coope 
Cleayton  Newbold 
Abel  Walker 
Geo  :  Bowne 
Joshua  Lamb 
Joseph    Richardson, 

Jun' 
John  Haydock 
Johns  Hopkins 
John  Morris,  Jun' 
Tho'  Harrison 
Samuel  Taylor 
John  Webb 
Nathan  Jones 
John  Howell 
W?  Waring 
John  Jackson 
George  Moore 
Israel  Roberts 
George  Williams 
Daniel  Lamb 
Jacob  Tomkins 
William  Lownes 
James  Jones,  Jnr 


W^'  Brewer 
Thomas  Hall 
Moses  Cadwalader 
W^  Brown 
Daniel  Ballinger 
W^  Stan- 
Elijah  Field 
Sam!  Rhoads 
Samuel  Briggs 
Thomas  Parker 
Joel  Sharpies 
John  Robeson 
Isaac  Borton 
Samuel  Hicks 
James  Worstall 
Robert  White 
John  Baily 
Bleakston  Janney 
Evan  Evans 
Thomas  George 
Anthony  Poultney 
Hezekiah  Bates 
John  Maule 
Oliver  Paxson 
Daniel  Mifflin 
Daniel  Dawson 
Jacob  Parke 
Wf  Lippincott 
W™  Atkinson 
John  Oldden 
Ellis  Yarnall 
Elias  Ring 
William  Coale 
Joshua  Yarnall 
Jonas  Potts 
Nathan  Williams 
Philip  Marot 
Daniel  Trotter 
Yeamans  Gillingham 
Charles  West,  Junf 
Nathan  Littler 
Jesse  Milhous 


APPENDIX   III 


SIGNERS   OF   THE   PHILADELPHIA  ADDRESS   TO   CONGRESS* 


Peter  Summers 
Charles  Cooper 
T.  Matlack 
Peter  Whiteside 
Edward  Stiles 
Dan  Clymer 
Robert  Roberts 
G?  Bickham 
Georg  Schiller 
Joseph  Gray 
Isaac  Hazlehurst 
John  Barclay 
Tho?  Willing 
Cad:  Morris 
Peter  Webster 
Tench  Francis 
James  Hood 
Michael   Morgan 

O'Brien 
John  McKim 
Abra  Markoe 
Geo.  Haynes 
Mordecai  Lewis 
Alexf  Boyd  Majr 
John  Taggart 
Joseph  Anthony 
Josiah  Hewes 
John  Fromberger 
Mark  Willcox 
Pat^  Byrne 
Wood  Hopkins 
J.  Swanwick 
James  Newport 
Haym  Salomon 
Jn">  Loehmann 
James  Gallager 
Lewis  Farmer 
W-?  Sellers 
Will:  Adcock 

'  See  page  87  an^e. 


James  Read 
Sam;  Wetherell,  Ju^ 
W™  L.  Blair 
Ad"  Clampfifer 
Jos.  Pennell 
Jacob  Barge 
Jacob  Graff 
George  Nelson 
W?  Sheaff 
Henry  Keppele 
Henry  Helmuth 
W?  Pollard 
Tho"  Pryor 
Richd.  Footman 
Z:(?)Geo.  Meade 
John  Richard,  Jun."" 
John  Morrell 
Jasper  Moylan 
Sol  Marache 
Jonas  Phillips 
Charles  Risk 
John  Duz- 

(blot  illegible) 
A.  Bunner 
John  Steinmetz 
John  D.  Coxe 
Plunl.  Fleison 
John  Jones 
Alexf  Carlyle 
Tho«.  Palmer 
W"  Wood 
Adam  Foulke 
Michael  Kimmell 
Charles  Charmbarling 
Francis  Bailey 
John  Keble 
John  Barker 
Jacob  Esler 
William  Moulder 


Tho«  Nevell 
John  Weaver 
William  Marshall 
Hugh  Martin 
Benj  Snell 
James  Thompson 
John  Richardson 
Joseph  Kendall 
John  Pringle 
Casper  Singer 
Isaac  Whelen 
Edw  Price 
JonH.  Helm 
John  L.  Clarkson 
Caleb  Bickham 
John  Armstrong 
Jn?Webb  Checkley 
Rob^  Bridges 
James  Mease 
John  Whitehead 
Dan':  Topham 
John  Woodward 
John  Young 
Geo:  Simpson 
Gustavus  Risberg 
Stephen  Maxfield 
Sam'  Hodgson 
Jacob  Plankinhorn 
Jehosp*  Polk 
John  Carter 
John  Sellers 
James  Vanuxem 
Sampson  Harvey 
Robert  Taggart 
Fran!  Gurney 
Francis  Lee 
Solomon  M^Nair 
George  Whelpper 
William  Kenley 


Names  queried  are  doubtful  readings. 
263 


264 


CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 


Jacob  L.  Sergler 
Josiah  Matlack 
George  Dufifield 
Larazett  Mailer 
John  Patton 
W»  Hall 
John  Craig 
Ja«  Craig,  juT 
William  Forbes 
William  Graham 
Ja'  Cuming 
WiUiam  Bell 
Sam'.  Nicholas 
John  Perot 
W°  TurnbuU 
Robert  Smith 
John  Hazelwood 
Dean  Timmons 
Rob'  Bamhill 
Hf  Hancock 
J?  B.  NickoUs 
Antoni  Froen  (?) 
John  Wilson 
John  Brown,  Junf 
Henry  Miller 
Joseph  Stamper 
Elias  Boys 
Tho»:  Franklin 
J.  Ross 
Tho.  Turner 
Samuel  Powel 
Michael  Caner 
Ws  Eckhart 
Rob*  Turner 
Archd  M:  Sparrow 
Matt:  Henderson 
Mayburry  Jolly 
D?  Porter 
Tho!  Shortall 
John  Dugan 
Richard  Sweetman 
John  Rudolph 
John  Mease 
Sam'.  Read 
Jos.  Few 
Jo".  Wharton 
W5  Gray 

David  H.  Conyngham 
Sam!  Caldwell 
William  Thorp 


W"  Allison 
Will:   Miller 
John  Caldwell 
J.  Bleakley 
Sam'.  C.  Morris 
Philip  Benezet 
Francis  Feariss 
William  Semple 
Richard  Mason 
James  Dunlap 
John  Pyle 
Joseph  Parkes 
Charles  Knarij 
George  Strayly 
Martin  Gaul 
Christian  Darnder  (?) 
Jn"  M'Farlane 
Peter  Lohra 
N°.  Jones 
John  Keith 
W™  Carron 
Robert  Smith 
David  Seckel 
John  Craig 
William  Richard 
George  Reinhart 
Henry  Seckel 
Cornelius  Barnes 
W"  Shippen 
Peter  Knight 
William  Matlack 
Z.  Lenaigre 
Cha'  Syng 
James  White 
Jacob  Swem 
John  Leamy 
James  Cottinger 
Comelf  Comegys 
Thomas  O'Hara 
Garrett  Cottringer 
Tho'  Smith 
Christopher  Byerly 
Peter  Lex 
Geo  :  Ingels 
J**.   Hiltzheimer 
Reuben  Haines 
George  Kitts  Junior 
Jacob  Kitts 
Charles  Stultz 
Sam'  Powel 


Tho?  Stanes 
John  Harrison 
Robt  M«Gee 
Peter  Simletter 
Christian  Beackley 
John  Smith 
Joseph  Rakestraw 
Charles  W5  Nushag 
Rob  Erwin 
David  Sellers 
Georg  David  Seckel 
N«>  Sellers 
Michael  Gunckel 
Jacob  Miller 
Lewis  Billing 
James  Hutchinson 
John  Phile 
John  Graff 
Sam)  Miles 
Geo  :  Aston 
Robert  Davidson 
Israel  Whiten 
Jacob  S.  Howell 
Adam  Zantzinger 
Will"  Wister 
William  Keppele 
James  M^Cutchon 
John  M«Cutchon 
Alex'  Russell 
W"  Henderson 
G  Henderson 
L.  Karcher 
Martain  Boreaff 
Michael  Kitts 
John  Everhart 
W°  Govett 
W^  Nichols 
Joseph  Stiles 
Reynold  Keen 
John  Jones 
Henry  Callaghan 
Laurence  Fitzgerald 
John  Brooks 
Nathan  Hughes 
MathT  Irwin 
John  M"=Ginley 
William  Coxe  Jun. 
Sam.  Clarkson 
Isaac  Warner 
Peter  Kuhn 


APPENDIX   III 


265 


James  Rowan 
}•»  Rush  Junior 
Tho"  Maxfeld 
Edward  Pole 
SamI  Jackson 
William  Shaw 
AndT  Ten  Eick 
David  Uber 
Christoffer  Kains 
Benj°  Harbeson 
William  Lamb 
Joseph  Brown 
Fred.  Phile 
John  Gartley 
James  B.  Smith 
Arch^   Engles 
Edmond  Nugent 
Nathl  Waters 
Robl  Gumming 
William  Craig 
Thomas  Armat 
Wm.  HoUinshead 
Andrew  Tybout 
John  Souder 
George  Lehman 
Edward  Randolph 
Mathias  Bemhard 
Henry  Deberger 
Christopher  Baker 
Benj"  Van  Scyoc 
Com.  M^Caskey 
George  Leib 
Paine  Newman 
Henry  Brusstar 
W"  Masters 
James  Brusstar 
Willcox  Phillips 
W"  Thomas 
Jacob  Raell 
Jacob  Weaver 
Moses  Levy 
John  Alexander 
Mathias  Stimble 
Peter  Jeodon 
W"  Clifton 
M.  Leib 
John  Porter 
Levi  Budd 
Jon  Scholfield 


Jacob  Van  Siver  (?) 
John  Morris 
James  Bryson 
Dav**  Duncan 
John  Reaman  Jf 
Nich'  Low 
Step:  Collins 
Matthew  Mease 
Robt  Stephens 
Samuel  Dellap 
Jacob  Levering 
J.  Withy 

Wagner  &  L,  Blanc 
Df  John  Baker 
Jo*  Israel 
John  Stephens 
Caleb  Wilkins 
Joseph  Chay 
John  Crynen  (?) 
Jacob  Dimand 
William  Johnson 
Antoine  Guerin 
William  Price 
Mark  Hapeny 
John  Lyne 
Thomas  Irwin 
John  Byrnes 
John  Martin 
Nich»  Bernard 
John  MoKinley 
Jonathan  Draper 
James  West 
Geof  Logan 
John  Cottringer 
John  Lmton 
Paul  Eszling 
James  Finley 
Robert  Gather 
Heinrich  Avril  (?) 
James  Walsh 
John  Smith 
Hamilton  Hazelton 
John  Woods 
S.  Lyons 
Edward  Laskey 
Donald  Mcintosh 
Andrew  Doz 
Mag?  Miller 
Ab:  Shoemaker 


W°  Wentworth 
Samuel  Coutts 
W"  Keates 
Tho?  Prudden 
William  Clark 
John  Brown 
Lorenz  Schini 
Thomas  Cuthbert 
Jno  Green 
Henry  Dubois 
Peter  Conor 
Charles  Cecil 
Godfrey  Gebler 
Erhart  Miller 
Rob*  Vanhorn 
George  Rutter 
Elijah  Coffing 
Eb  Hazard 
John  Lardner 
Peter  W.  Gallaudet 
James  Morphy 
James  Hunter 
Jo.!  Cowperthwaite 
James  Ash 
Ar.  Donaldson 
Chas.  Willing 
William  Bell 
Matt:  McGuire 
George  Way 
William  Reddon 
John  Barrack 
Joseph  Greenway 
Azaria  Horton 
Jn"  Burrows 
Rich*  Dennis 
Jno.  Harper 
W.  McMurtrie 
William  Brown 
B.  Wistar 
Ja!  Milligan 
Daniel  Eddy 
Edw^  Lynch 
I.  Shallurs 
John  Phillips 
Tho.f  Bo  wen 
W°'  Brown 
John  Pollard 
Charles  Jolly 
Hugh  Bennett 


266 


CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 


Norton  Pryor 
Joseph  Johnson 
Jos:  Stretch 
Ed.  Bartholomew 
Isaac  Wynn 
Rich'J.Renshaw 
Jon.  Fisher 
William  Jones 
Joseph   Donaldson, 

Jun. 
Ainbrose  Simpson 
Mat.  M<=Connell 
Alex^  Fullerton 
W:  Thomas 
Cha^  W.  Peale 
James  Claypoole 
William  White 
John^  Phillips 
Robt  Stevenson 
Alexy  Foster 
Levi  Rollings  worth 
Stephen  Hollings worth 
Ro^  Caldwell 
Samuel  Dilworth 
Ch!  M^Clung 
Jn»  Purviance 
Joseph  Howell,  Jun. 
Tho»  Shields 
John  Purdon 
W"  Lawrence 
Jn"  David 
John  Ramsay 
George  Henry 
Joseph  Prowell 
Geo  Emlen 
Will.  Graham 
W"  Henderson 
Rob^  Aitken 
Jn?  Miller,  j--; 
Mercier  &  Carre 
W"  Barton 
Jo»  Abercrombie 
Tho!  Bradford 
Rich^.  Armi 
Sami.  Inglis 
W.  P.  Stanly 
John  Chaloner 
D.  C.  Claypoole 
James  Peale 


Israel  (?)  Rhor 

Peter  Boos 

Simon  Miller 

Jacob  Simpson 

Tho^  Ross 

Joseph  Rees 

John  Salts 

Lewis  Grant 

M!  Hillegas 

Sam.  Magaw 

Geo:  Latimer 

W?  Rigden 

John  Nixon 

Sam^  M^Lane 

John  Miller 

Edward  Fox 

John  Barnhill 

Wf  Ralston 

Frederick  Kuhl 

Lamb'  Witmer 

John  Lisle 

William  Smith 

John  Dunlap 

Thomas  Francis 

Tho^  Fitzgerald 

W?  Richard  Bookseller 

W.  Shippen,  jr. 

John  Macpherson 

Cha^.  Young 

B.  Randolph 

Blair  MClenachan 

John.  White 

Benj°  Rush 

Ja?.  Gilchrist 

Jacob  Schreiner 

William  Haverstick 

W™  Shannon 

Geo.  Esterly 

Will?  Budden 

Th  Bond 

Michael  Shubart 

Dav"*  Rittenhouse 

Henry  Kammerer 

Peter  Kraft 

AndT  Aitken 

George  A.  Baker 

Abel  James 

John  Fish 

Jacob  Brady 

W"  Henry 


Peter  Edenborn 
Christian  Hawk 
Rich'i   Collier 
P.  E.  Du  Simitiere 
Conrad  Hanse 
Ephraim  Bonham 
Era?  Hopkinson 
John  Bayard 
John  Kling 
Jos^  Bindon 
Leonard  Dorsey 
David  Evans 
William  Fades 
Jn»  Nancarrow 
David  Schaffer,  Ju! 
George  Habacker 
Jedidiah  Snowden 
John  Biddle 
A.  Gilchrist 
John  Barron 
Standish  Forde 
Samuel  Sterrup 
Tho'  Roche 
George  Shaw 
George  Bickerton 
Joseph  Fisher 
W"  M-'llhenney 
Benj?  Shaw 
Alexander  Boyle 
Lewis  Croner 
W5?  Coats  Lect.  C.  P. 
Jacob  Morgan,  jr. 
Thomas  Paine 
John  Robert 
Robert  Knox,  L^  Co| 
W?  Moore 
John  Taylor 
Joseph  Penrose 
James  M«Crea 
Isaac  Frank 
White  Matlack 
Jn»  Shee 

Benjamin  G.  Eyre,  L.C. 
Wm.  Will,  U.  Col 
Jos  :  Dean,  L*  Cof  6th 

Batt°  C.  P.  M. 
Clement  Biddle  Q  M 

G  Militia 
John  Vannost 
C  :  Clay 


APPENDIX   III 


267 


W  :  Clay 
Sam!  Fisher 
Benj?  Town 
Thomas  Morgan 
John  Le  TeUer 
William  Williams 
Jaf  Kinnear 
Robert  Fitzgerald 
Thomas  Piatt 
John  Campbell 
Andrew  Ten  Eyck 
Charles  White 
Matthew  Duncan 
Christo'  Seller 
John  Murdock 
Patrick  Grogan 
Richard  Carlton 
James  Scott 
Daniel  Dick 
Frederick  Dick 
Chalkley  James 
R"*  Byrne 
Jos.  Carson 
Daniel  Joy 
James  Losbothim 
Josiah  Lockhart 
Jesse  Greenfield 
Tho'  Humphreys 
Isaac  Levy 
Robert  Hiltzheimer 
Hasman  Senf 
Job  Mayer 
Roger  Flahavan 
Josiah  W.  Gibbs 
Isaac  Jones 
J.  Rees 
Isaac  Moses 
Sam!  Lewis  Wharton 
Jn"  Hazelwood,  jr. 
Henry  Pratt 
Hamilton  &  Son 
Moses  Cohen 
John  Haynes 
James  Hartley 
Ed  Williams 
W?  Roberts 
B.  Rttfield 
Geo:  Mifflin 
James  Cooper 
Rob*  Paisley 


Sam-  Wallis 
Cadw'f  Evans 
Wm.  Hardy 
Arch.  Gardner 
Michael  Dawson 
Abraham  Collings 
William  Downs 
Paul  Cox 
John  Hartly 
Jacob  Souder 
Isaac  Coats,  Jun' 
G.  Marcus  Young 
William  Stutzer 
Rich.  Young 
Seymour  Hart 
Sam.  Clayton 
John  Rinker 
Jeremiah  Baker 
Joseph  Rush 
Peter  Van  Galder 
Samuel  Bams 
John  Wells 
J.  Ollivier  et  Cy 
Stephen  Geistier 
George  Strepee 
Adam  Weaver 
Adam  Ohl 
SamI  Clinton 
Henry  Deforest 
John  Sutton 
Thomas  Vaughan 
James  Harries  (?) 
Isaac  White 
W"  Coats 
John  Pearce 
John  Taylor 
Hans  Hamilton 
Thomas  Hopkins 
John  Brouwer 
Hugh  Henry 
Eli  Canby 
Dan.  Tyson 
Ja"  Wharton 
C.  P.  Raguett 
Josh.  Plowman 
James  Mullen 
Peter  Dick 
John  Fullerton 
William  Hassall 
John  Beck 


Sam'  Corry 
Bryan  O'  Hara 
Walt  Hall 
Matthew  Lawler 
Henry  W.  Physick 
John  Houck 
John  Wall 
Rob.'  Cocks 
Benjamin  Evans 
Ad?  Hubley 
Fran'  Wady 
Stephen     Austin     & 

Co. 
Rob^  McClenachan 
Caleb  Ash 
Saml  Young 
Thomas  Rice 
Daniel  O'Neaill 
Jacob  Bright 
Isaac  Eyre 
Robt  Jones 
Dennis  Dougherty 
Roger  Flahavan  Jun"! 
John  Smith 
William  Griffiths 
James  Miller 
William  Morrell 
George  Evans 
Jos.  Morris 
Assheton  Humphreys 
Sam!  Wharton 
Edw?  Shippen 
Ferdinand  Farmer 
Robert  Molyneux 
Thof  Stretch 
Jacob  Duch6 
Jos.  Wilson 
Jere*?"  Warder  Parker  & 

Cof 
Jehu  Eldredge 
William  Geisse 
Cartwright,  AUenby  & 

Wightman 
Allen  Ridgway 
John  Oldden 
William  Kerlin 
Dan.  King 
Jacob  Hinkler 
John  J  Bogert 


268 


CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 


David  M:Cullough 
RicM  Willing 
John  Francis 
Eph:  Blaine 
John  Wharton 
AndT  Carson 
W?  Cavenough 
Alex^  Tod 
James  Byrne 
Isaac  Wikoff 
John  Cox 
James  Roney 
James  Champnis 
Fr?  Kinsell 
Benj?  January 
Joseph  Bispham 
Nathan  Boys 
W?  Woodhouse 
Robert  Patton 
David  Patton 
Richard  Barry 
Jan  Jacob  Sluyter 
Temple  Harris 
Edm*.  Milne 
Thomas  Holmes 
Tho?.  Milne 
Henry  Land 
Jn".  Alexander 
Tobias  Barrett 
Joseph  Baker 
Hugh  Hodg 
Frd?  Christian 
Samuel  Meeker 
Rob'  MuUan 
E  Murray 
Fred.  Seckel 
William  Trotter 
W"  Sheed 
And"  Epple 
Benj"?  Betterton 
Philip  Odenheimer 
Peter  Shreiber 
Joseph  Master 
Charles  Heinitsh 
Philip  Hall 
Alexander  Power 
Peter  Wiltberger 
Archibald  Shaw 
Thomas  Boyd 


Isaac  Connely 
Peter  Drais 
John  Wager 
John  Foster 
Daniel  Craig 
John  Shearman 
George  Sing 
Walter  Baker 
William  Dellap 
Frederick  Meyer 
W"?  Harris 
W"?  Davey 
Martin  Will 
Martin  Lodwick 
Edw*?  Hanlon 
Georg  Kier 
Chas.  Bouman 
George  Walker 
Conrad  Hofif 
Rud^  Nagel 
Michael  Boyer 
Adam  Schuster 
John  Grant 
Burton  Wallace 
Saml  M.  Fox 
Luke  Morris 
Cha!  Humphreys 
John  Rudke 
W™  Wharton 
Thomas  Bradley 
Andrew  Grebel 
Friedrich  Schredell  (?) 
William  Turner 
George  Heyl 
John  Davison 
Andrew  Way 
Will  Pan- 
James  Richardson 
Christean  Dishong 
Patrick  Wright 
Cad'  Dickinson 
Rich*  PhiUips 
John  Winkerer 
Jacob  Gascend 
John  Aitken 
Hugh  Frazer 
William  Kinnan 
William  Swanson 
Daniel  Edwards 


John  James 
Conrad  Hister 
Chr"*'  Wirtz,  Jr. 
James  H.  Low 
Emanuel  Priest 
Luke  Keating 
TimT  Sloan 
Philip  Stein 
Thomf  Leaming,  Jun?^ 
Sam!  Penrose 
Jeremiah  Barker 
John  Campbell,  Juf 
Solomon  M^Nair 
Ben  Gibbs 
Garland  Thompson 
Thomas  Falconer 
Jos :  Nourse 
Pat  Ferrall 
John  C.  Kunze 
Guilliam  Aertsen 
Jn°  Henderson 
George  Schlosser 
Joseph  Spencer 
Dan!  Udree 
Philip  Heyl 
Chas  Seitz 
Philip  Wager 
John  Linington 
Samuel  Libe 
Alexander  Robertson 
James  Craig 
Samuel  Keln 
William  Oliphant 
Elihu  Bissel 
John  Richards 
Philip  Clambel  (?) 
George  Haas 
Sharp  Delany 
Jona°  Mifflin 
And .  Hodge,  Sen"; 
Jn°  Mifflin 
John  Dorsey,  jun' 
Hugh  De  Haven 
Jn"?  Nicholson 
G.  Evans 
Cha!  Vanderen 
Adam  Melcher 
Charles  Drum  (?) 
Christian  Wirtz 


APPENDIX    III 


269 


William  Wirtz 
Samuel  Slayter 
Will-"  AUibone 
John  Mason  Uphold^ 
George  Seitz 
Archibald  Gamble 
R*  Patterson 


J°  Wigton 

Jas.  Wilkinson  Adjt. 

&  Brigadier  general 

of  the  State. 
John  McLaughlin 
Rob^  Crozier 
John  Carrell 


Leonard   Stonebumer 
J.  D.  Blanchard 
George  Ozeas 
Benj°  Davis,  Jun"^ 
Zacch  :  Collins 
AndT  Kennedy 


APPENDIX   IV 

BOUDINOT-WREN   CORRESPONDENCE^ 

No.   I." 

Princeton  Nov  1783 
Sir 

Your  Humanity  &  kindness  to  our  helpless  &  distressed  Citizens,  who 
by  the  fortune  of  War,  were  thrown  into  the  Power  of  their  Enemies, 
and  within  your  reach,  have  been  made  known  to  the  united  States  of 
America  in  Congress  assembled  —  I  am  honored  by  their  Commands,  to 
return  you  their  united  Thanks  for  the  repeated  acts  of  Benevolence  & 
Humanity  shewn  by  you  to  their  unfortunate  &  oppressed  Citizens  who 
were  prisoners  at  Portsmouth  during  the  late  War — 

This  part  of  my  Duty  gives  me  great  Pleasure  as  the  highest  satisfac- 
tion next  to  doing  humane  &  benevolent  Actions  ourselves  is  the  testi- 
fying our  gratitude  to  those  from  whom  we  receive  them  —  I  have  the 
honour  of  enclosing  a  Copy  of  the  Act  of  Congress  of  the  2g^^  SepV 
last  by  which  the  Sense  of  your  goodness  will  more  clearly  appear  than 
by  any  Expression  of  mine — 

It  adds  Sir  to  my  Happiness  on  this  Occasion  to  enclose  a  Diploma 
from  the  University  in  this  place  of  which  I  have  the  honour  of  being  a 
Trustee,  conferring  on  you  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity,  which  I 
hope  you  will  favour  us  with  the  acceptance  of  as  an  additional  Evidence 
of  the  respect  of  this  grateful  Country  — 

I  have  the  Honour  &c 
The  Rev«  D'  Wren 
Portsmouth 

No.  II.3 

Portsmouth  12*'' February  1784. 
Honourable  Sir, 

I  have  had  the  honour  to  receive  your  very  obliging  letter  of  the  i'.*  of 
November  last,  which  encloses  a  Vote  of  Thanks  of  The  Honourable  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  a  Diploma  of  Doctor  in 
Divinity  from  the  College  of  New  Jersey. 

The  Sentiments  which  you  are  pleased  to  express  on  this  occasion, 
assure  me.  Sir,  that  I  may  take  the  liberty  to  request,  that  you  will  pre- 
sent to  the  Honourable  Congress,  in  a  better  manner  than  I  am  able  to 
do,  my  most  grateful  acknowledgements  for  the  distinguished  honour 
they  have  done  me.     I  receive  this  testimony  of  their  approbation  with 

1  See  page  157  ante. 

"  Boudinot  Papers,  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society.  The  letter  itself,  of  which 
the  above  is  a  draft,  was  dated  November  1st. 

'  Princeton  Collection,  Library  of  Princeton  University.  The  enclosure  has  not 
been  preserved. 

270 


APPENDIX   IV  271 

the  highest  sense  of  their  condescending  and  generous  regards.  It  is 
the  pure  result  of  their  own  goodness  ;  For  tho'  I  am  ever  determined  to  do 
every  thing  in  my  power  for  the  relief  of  their  captives,  yet  were  not  my 
efforts  equal  to  my  wishes.  All  possible  assistance  to  men  suffering  so 
deeply,  and  in  such  a  cause,  appeared  to  me  to  be,  in  the  strictest  sense, 
my  duty.  And  as  the  impulse  of  that  humanity  which  1  feel,  the  attach- 
ment to  that  liberty  which  I  adore,  and  the  desire  of  succouring  op- 
pressed innocence,  never  obtained  full  gratification  ;  I  am  the  more 
affected  by  the  acknowledgement  of  that  Honourable  body  over  which 
you  preside.  Their  Vote  of  Thanks  to  me,  also  acquires  additional 
value,  as  it  is  the  Act  of  men  who  had  spirit  equal  to  the  defence  of 
their  rights,  and  perseverance  sufficient  for  the  emancipation  of  their 
country.  Such  honours  no  other  men  can  confer.  Such  honours  no 
other  men  possess. 

I  pray  the  honour  of  you  Sir  to  convey  the  enclosed  to  the  President 
of  the  College  at  Princeton.  And  permit  me  Sir  to  add  that  1  esteem 
myself  greatly  obliged  by  the  very  polite  and  friendly  manner  in  which 
you  have  communicated  to  me  these  high  and  undeserved  regards  of 
your  country. 

May  the  country,  Sir,  be  the  Seat  of  freedom,  the  region  of  virtue 
and  prosperity,  and  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed  for  ever. 
With  sincere  respect  and  esteem 
I  have  the  honour  to  be 
Honourable  Sir 

your  very  obliged 

and  humble  Servant 

Thomas  Wren 
To  The  Honourable  Elias  Boudinot  Esq  — 


APPENDIX  V 

ORATIONS     DELIVERED      BEFORE     CONGRESS     AT 
COMMENCEMENT     1 783 

No.  I.     Grammar  Scholar's  Oration^ 
The  following  is  a  copy  of  an  Oration  delivered  by  one  of  the  young 
Gentlemen  at  the  late  commencement  at  Princeton. 

Addressing  so  respectable  an  audience  as  I  now  see  before  me,  I,  who 
have  not  been  accustomed  to  any  public  appearance,  must  feel  a  great 
degree  of  diffidence ;  and  do  therefore  request,  that  while  your  attention 
is  directed  to  a  subject  very  important  to  human  virtue  and  happiness, 
you  will  bear  with  indulgence,  tiie  very  imperfect  nature  of  the  few  hints 
I  shall  take  the  liberty  to  submit  upon  it. 

Notwithstanding  the  ingenious  attempts  which  have  been  made  by 
Rousseau  and  others,  to  prove  that  the  progress  of  learning  and  science 
has  tended  to  the  diminution  of  human  happiness  ;  1  begin  already,  from 
my  own  feelings  and  experience,  to  be  able  to  controvert  all  their  fine- 
spun reasoning.  Even  at  my  early  period  of  life,  it  is  surely  proper  to 
look  into  myself,  to  consider  attentively  the  nature  of  those  powers  and 
faculties  with  which  I  am  endowed,  and  the  comparative  quality  of  that 
pleasure  or  happiness  of  which  the  different  faculties  of  my  nature  are 
susceptible.  If  man,  like  the  other  animals,  had  no  other  wants  to 
supply  than  the  mere  cravings  of  sense,  and  if  he  was  capable  of  no 
other  enjoyments  than  what  can  be  derived  from  the  indulgence  of 
animal  appetites,  it  would  certainly  be  right  and  proper  to  direct  all  his 
attention  to  the  pursuit  of  such  objects  as  are  best  fitted  to  convey  that 
kind  of  pleasure  ;  but  being  endowed  with  powers  of  mind,  susceptible 
of  pleasure  and  pain  in  a  much  higher  degree  than  the  senses  of  animal 
nature,  it  is  surely  wisest  and  best  for  a  man  to  pay  a  superior  regard 
to  the  cultivation  and  improvement  of  his  mental  powers.  From  the 
constitution  of  our  nature,  it  happens,  that  in  proportion  as  the  mind  is 
employed  in  the  acquisition  of  useful  knowledge,  its  faculties  are  enlarged 
and  envigorated  ;  and  the  conscious  feeling  of  that  progressive  improve- 
ment of  the  best  part  of  our  nature,  must  be  a  source  of  the  most  gen- 
uine pleasure.  Besides,  as  the  spirit  of  patriotism,  or  in  other  words,  the 
spirit  of  benevolence,  has  by  the  universal  concurrence  of  mankind,  been 
held  in  the  highest  esteem,  it  should  certainly  induce  the  most  ardent 
application  to  such  studies  and  pursuits  as  may  enable  us  most  effectu- 
ally to  do  service  to  mankind  and  to  our  country.  Entertaining  these 
sentiments,  I  feel  myself  happy  in  the  prospect  of  entering  to  the  college 
of  New-Jersey  ;  an  institution  which  does  the  greatest  honor  to  its 
founders,  and  to  the  state,  and  the  beneficial  effects  of  which  have  been 

^From  the  Pennsylvania  Packet,  October  9,  1783. 

272 


APPENDIX    IV  .  273 

felt  over  the  greater  part  of  this  extensive  continent.  Many  who  now 
hear  me,  will  always  think  with  gratitude  of  this  literary  establishment, 
who,  by  being  led  here  to  examine  with  critical  attention,  the  heroic 
characters  and  virtues  exhibited  in  classical  antiquity,  have  had  their 
minds  fixed  with  the  most  laudable  emulation,  and  gladly  embraced  the 
great  opportunity  which  lately  offered  for  distinguishing  themselves  in 
the  field  and  in  the  senate,  as  able  and  zealous  defenders  of  the  dearest 
interests  of  mankind  and  of  their  country.  While  I  feel  a  degree  of 
regret  that  I  did  not  come  into  the  world  early  enough  to  bear  an  active 
part  in  this  glorious  revolution,  I  have  abundant  reason  to  be  thankful 
to  Providence,  that  an  opportunity  is  now  afforded  to  me  of  receiving 
such  instructions,  and  of  having  my  mind  formed  upon  such  principles 
of  public  and  private  virtue,  as  may  render  me  still  an  useful  member  of 
the  state,  and  capable  of  contributing  to  the  welfare  of  my  country  ;  a 
country  now  rendered  worthy  of  the  most  steady  and  zealous  exertions 
in  its  favor  by  every  liberal  and  benevolent  mind.  1  bless  God,  too, 
that  while  I  shall  be  employed  in  examining  the  various  opinions  of 
philosophers  respecting  those  qualities  which  constitute  true  greatness, 
I  live  at  a  time  and  in  a  country  where  I  have  the  honor  and  hope  to 
feel  the  advantage  of  seeing  exhibited  in  one  character,  a  living  example 
of  them  all.  —  I  will  not  attempt  his  praise.  —  His  superior  worth  is  ac- 
knowledged over  all  the  world  ;  it  is  deeply  felt  in  the  hearts  of  his 
fellow  citizens,  and  will,  I  trust,  not  only  continue  to  inspire  the  most 
grateful  recollection  of  his  inestimable  services,  but  also  to  inspire  some 
portion  of  the  same  spirit  of  true  patriotism,  that  has  excited  those 
glorious  efforts  which,  by  the  blessing  of  Providence  have  effectuated 
the  political  salvation  of  this  happy  country.  Living  at  such  a  time, 
and  in  such  circumstances,  what  noble  inducements  have  we,  my  fellow 
students,  to  prosecute  with  ardour  the  studies  which  may  enable  us  to 
understand  the  nature  and  value  of  those  rights  which  have  been  pur- 
chased for  us  by  the  toils,  the  labors,  the  blood  of  our  countrymen. 
They  shall  transmit  to  us  a  legacy  whose  price  cannot  be  computed, 
and  whose  value  is  equally  inestimable. — God  forbid  then,  that  we 
should  be  insensible  of  its  worth,  inattentive  of  its  preservation,  or  un- 
qualified for  maintaining  it  with  that  tenderness  and  dignity  which  its 
nature  requires.  —  May  we  never  forget  that  those  great  qualities  which 
have  been  so  eminently  useful  in  promoting  the  success  of  the  late 
glorious  contest,  were  not  acquired  on  the  bed  of  sloth,  or  in  the  lap  of 
luxurious  pleasures  ;  but  by  that  manly  resolution,  firmness  of  mind, 
and  unremitting  industry,  without  which  nothing  truly  great  or  noble  can 
be  acquired  or  achieved  by  man.  Having  such  examples  before  us, 
how  disgraceful  would  it  be  not  to  feel  their  influence,  to  emulate  their 
greatness,  and  to  aspire  with  the  most  careful  anxiety  to  qualify  our- 
selves for  maintaining  that  dignity  of  character  to  which  our  country  is 
justly  raised  among  the  nations  of  the  world. 

No.  II.    Valedictoky  Oration  of  Ashbel  Green.* 

On  me  has  devolved  the  difficult,  melancholy  office  of  closing  the 
exercises  of  the  day,  and  of  bidding  adieu  to  these  pleasurable  abodes  of 

'New  Jersey  Historical  Society  Proceedings,  3d  Series,  Vol.  i,  p.  124  et  seq. 

18 


274  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS  AT   PRINCETON 

science.  The  office  is  difficult  because  I  shall  want  words  to  express 
our  obligations  to  those  fathers  of  science  and  virtue,  under  whose  care 
and  guardianship  we  have  been  placed.  It  is  melancholy  because  that 
care  and  guardianship  are  now  to  be  no  more.  Among  the  many  tender 
ties  of  attachment  that  engage  our  hearts,  perhaps  there  are  none  of  a 
more  delicate  texture  than  that  which  we  formed  in  the  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge. Such  an  attachment  is  founded  on  the  clearest  principles  of 
reason  ;  it  is  cemented  by  refined  pleasure  and  advantage  ;  and  when 
necessity  calls  for  a  separation,  it  is  not  easy  to  reconcile  the  mind  to 
part  with  so  dear  an  acquisition.  At  such  a  time  the  images  of  past 
pleasure  crowd  thick  about  the  heart ;  and  fancy,  ever  busy  in  works  of 
the  pencil,  does  not  fail  to  paint  them  strongly  on  the  feeling  mind. 
Indulge  us  then,  for  a  moment,  whUe  we  trace  over  those  scenes  of 
enjoyment  which  afforded  us  so  much  satisfaction  when  we  were  passing 
through  them,  and  the  recollection  of  which  must  ever  engage  and 
delight  our  hearts.  Here  the  tender  thought  has  been  nursed  to  virtue  ; 
here  the  buds  of  genius  have  been  taught  to  expand  ;  here  the  first  dawn- 
ings  of  mental  excellence  have  been  cherished  and  encouraged  ;  here 
the  great  examples  of  antiquity  have  been  laid  before  us.  ' '  Learn  to 
imitate  the  virtues  of  this  man,  says  the  careful  teacher,  but  beware  of 
his  vices.  This  action  was  heroic,  but  ambition,  we  fear,  was  its  only 
motive.  Here  this  philosopher  excelled,  but  there  he  pushed  his  virtue 
to  excess.  Let  the  example  of  this  sage  teach  you  resignation  to  the 
will  of  heaven,  and  learn  by  that  to  love  your  country.  See  here  the 
fatal  end  of  too  great  ambition,  and  be  convinced,  by  the  example  of 
him  who  has  tried  it,  that  had  you  the  world  you  would  weep  for  another. 
Here  you  view  the  effects  of  diligence  and  perseverance  ;  and  if  you 
envy  the  fame  of  the  man  you  must  imitate  his  example. '  *  Thus  the 
pages  of  classic  lore  are  passed  over.  The  fire  of  emulation  seizes  the 
breast  of  the  youth,  and  he  is  pained  with  a  generous  fear  of  being 
excelled.  But  now  a  new  scene  is  opened  —  the  mind  is  called  off  from 
dwelling  wholly  on  the  beauties  of  the  poet  and  the  eloquence  of  the 
orator  and  the  historian,  to  the  closeness  of  demonstrative  science.  By 
this  it  is  prepared  to  search  into  the  wonders  of  nature,  to  trace  them  to 
their  causes,  and  to  look  through  them  up  to  nature's  God.  Then  the 
principles  of  morals  are  imbibed.  The  youthful  mind  is  taught  to  look 
into  its  capacity,  its  qualities  and  its  powers,  and  to  reason  from  them 
to  the  being  and  attributes  of  their  Creator,  and  thence  to  deduce  the 
nature  and  sanction  of  the  moral  law.  Hence  the  rights  of  men  are 
derived,  either  as  individuals  or  societies.  We  view  mankind  as  the 
subjects  of  one  great  lawgiver;  as  the  children  of  one  common  father, 
and  we  acquire  the  principles  of  universal  justice  and  benevolence. 
Once  more  the  scene  is  changed.  The  beauties  of  language  and  polite 
literature  are  laid  before  us.  We  are  prompted  to  imitate  them.  The 
attempt  is  made,  the  hand  of  matured  knowledge  and  experience  prunes 
away  the  extravagance  of  youthful  fancy,  and,  pointing  to  the  examples 
of  others,  excites  us  to  excell.  Then  the  first  essays  of  the  infant-muse 
are  offered  to  the  indulgence  of  a  public  audience,  and  the  mind  looks 
forward  with  pleasure  to  the  period  when  the  honors  of  the  place  of  our 
education  shall  be  conferred  on  us.  The  time  is  at  length  arrived.  But 
whether  shall  we  say  that  our  joy  or  sorrow  the  more  preponderates  ?  We 


APPENDIX    V  275 

rejoice  in  having  the  favorable  testimony  of  such  characters  as  the 
worthy  and  honored  trustees  of  Nassau  Hall  to  introduce  us  to  the 
world,  but  we  tremble  at  the  prospect  of  being  deprived  of  their 
patronage  and  direction.  Yes,  honored  gentlemen,  it  is  with  the  deepest 
feelings  of  regret  that  we  view  ourselves  separated  from  a  place  which 
claims  you  as  its  guardians.  Never  shall  we  find  such  another  retreat, 
and  in  vain  shall  we  look  for  such  protectors.  Who,  alas,  will  guide  our 
unexperienced  minds  amidst  the  flattering  allurements  of  vice  and  folly  ? 
Who  will  direct  our  untried  footsteps  in  the  giddy  paths  of  youth  ?  To 
the  care  of  a  kind  and  watchful  Providence,  and  the  influence  of  your 
prayers,  we  look  for  safety.  Deny  us  not  this  last  our  most  important 
request,  but  beseech  the  Supreme  Disposer  of  all  Events  to  guard  us 
from  every  evil  and  from  every  folly,  and  to  dispose  us  to  act  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  be  an  honor  to  the  place  of  our  education  and  a  blessing  to 
the  world.  Penetrated  with  the  most  lively  sentiments  of  gratitude  and 
respect  for  the  care  and  attention  you  have  ever  exercised  over  this 
institution,  and  for  the  honors  of  it  which  you  have  been  pleased  to  confer 
upon  us,  with  the  fondest  hopes  that  you  may  see  it  reward  your  labors, 
and  with  the  most  affectionate  wishes  for  your  highest  happiness  and 
prosperity,  we  bid  you  a  hearty  farewell. 

Reverend  and  honored  Sir,  to  you  next,  and  to  the  worthy  faculty  of 
the  college,  it  becomes  us  to  pay  our  humble  tribute  of  warm  and  un- 
feigned thanks  for  the  diligence,  care  and  tender  regard  with  which  you 
have  acted  toward  us  during  the  whole  of  the  time  that  we  have  been 
under  your  direction.  Be  assured  that  we  esteem  it  among  the  happiest 
circumstances  of  our  lives  that  the  forming  of  our  young  minds,  and  laying 
a  foundation  for  our  future  prospects  in  life,  have  been  under  your  auspi- 
cious care.  And  if  we  have  had  any  success  in  exploring  the  pleasing  past 
of  science,  if  we  have  treasured  up  any  useful  or  ornamental  knowledge, 
if  we  have  any  flattering  hopes  of  answering  the  expectations  of  those 
who  placed  us  here,  to  you  we  are  indebted  for  those  invaluable  acquisi- 
tions. And  should  we  be  so  happy  as  to  meet  the  plaudit  of  indulgent 
or  partial  friends,  we  would  catch  it  as  it  rises,  and,  with  grateful  hearts, 
bowing,  present  it  to  you.  It  is  your  tribute,  and  though  the  offering  be 
but  small,  you  will  permit  us  to  place  it  to  the  account  where  it  is  so 
justly  due.  We  are  now  to  be  separated  from  your  protection  and  from 
each  other.  A  few  moments  hence  we  must  take  a  long,  perhaps  the 
last,  farewell  view  of  yonder  consecrated  edifice,  where  we  have  so  often 
heard  the  words  of  instruction,  of  wisdom,  and  of  piety,  fall  from  your 
lips.  No  more  can  your  protection  guard  us,  no  more  your  lips  instruct 
us.  What  have  I  said  ?  I  recall  the  ungrateful  sentence;  your  protec- 
tion shall  ever  guard  us,  your  lips  shall  ever  instruct  us.  We  will  keep 
in  the  closest  recesses  of  our  hearts  your  wise  admonitions.  We  will  fix 
deep  in  our  remembrance  this  last  parting  advice  which  you  have  be- 
stowed on  us.  Those  shall  be  our  protection,  this  shall  be  our  instruc- 
tion. With  these  assurances,  and  with  hearts  of  gratitude  too  great  for 
expression,  we  ask  your  prayers,  we  must  bid  you  a  cordial,  though  to  us 
it  be  a  sad,  farewell. 

Fellow  graduates,  if  I  have  failed  in  doing  justice  to  your  feelings,  to 
our  governors  and  teachers,  forgive  me  ,  the  task  was  too  arduous  for 
my  feeble  tongue.     But  we,  too,  must  part.     To-morrow's  sun  will  view 


2/6  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS   AT   PRINCETON 

us  separated  from  these  pleasant,  peaceful  walks  of  science,  and  from 
each  other.  What  shall  I  say  ?  Shall  I  attempt  to  describe  the  pleasures 
of  our  union  or  the  solemnity  of  our  separation  ?  I  shall  not  attempt  it. 
The  one  is  already  written  on  our  hearts,  and  expression  will  not  reach 
the  other.  To  drop  the  tear  of  regret  when  we  view  these  sacred  walls 
rising  from  the  ruins  of  tyrant  cruelty,  when  we  see  our  alma  mater  re- 
covering from  the  wounds  which  the  savage  hand  of  war  had  inflicted  on 
her,  when  we  see  the  august  council  of  this  rising  empire  honoring  the 
place  of  our  education,  to  drop  the  tear  of  regret  at  such  a  time  may, 
perhaps,  to  an  indifferent  spectator,  appear  preposterous.  But  alas ! 
these  are  the  circumstances  that  point  the  arrows  of  sorrow  that  wound 
our  hearts.  We  are  to  be  torn  from  these  flattering  prospects  when  they 
are  but  beginning  to  dawn.  Farewell,  ye  pleasing  scenes,  thou  delight- 
_  ful  place  of  our  youthful  studies,  seat  of  the  muses,  how  shall  we  express 
it.''  A  long,  perhaps  a  final  adieu?  And  you,  too,  ye  dearest  com- 
panions, with  whom  I  have  traveled  the  field  of  science,  with  whom  I 
I  have  so  often  spent  the  joyous  hour,  when  the  muse  smiled  upon  us, 
time  has  now  come  —  we  must  bid  each  other  the  affectionate  farewell. 

Students  of  Nassau  Hall,  the  ties  of  friendship  can  no  longer  prevent 
our  separation.  Duty  calls,  necessity  obliges  us,  and  we  must  part.  To 
you  we  leave  the  pleasing  enjoyment  to  crop  the  fairest  flowers  of  knowl- 
edge, and  to  drink  at  the  stream  of  science  and  of  virtue.  And  oh  ! 
beware  how  you  treat  the  invaluable  privilege.  We  mean  not  to  re- 
proach you  with  insensibility,  but  seen  from  the  point  where  we  stand, 
your  advantages  appear  of  uncommon  magnitude.  We  have  experienced 
them,  and  they  are  now  flying  from  us,  we  see  them  in  heir  brightest 
lustre.  Let  it,  then,  be  engraven  on  your  hearts,  that  intterest  advises 
and  duty  demands,  your  strictest  obedience  and  most  cheerful  attention 
to  the  salutary  counsels  and  instructions  of  the  officers  of  the  college. 
It  is  their  due  ;  it  is  the  reward  of  their  care  and  anxiety  for  your  wel- 
fare ;  and  forbid  it  gratitude  ;  forbid  it  every  noble  and  manly  senti- 
ment ;  forbid  the  thought  of  depriving  them  of  so  just  a  recompense. 
And  oh  !  in  some  happy  moment,  when  drinking  at  the  pierian  spring, 
ye  view  the  genius  of  Nassau  Hall  laving  herself  in  the  limpid  fountain, 
tell  her  that  we,  her  sons,  have  not  forgotten  her  ;  tell  her  that  we  will 
ever  be  guided  by  the  influence  of  her  precepts  ;  that  we  will  ever  pray 
for  her  prosperity.  Fain  would  we  dwell  on  her  beauties,  but  we  must 
bid  both  her  and  you  a  sincere  farewell. 

Illustrious  Senators  of  America  !  Pardon  the  extravagance  of  youth, 
if  love  and  affection  have  for  once  destroyed  the  order  of  strict  propriety. 
It  is  not  for  want  of  the  highest  deference  and  veneration  for  your  charac- 
ters, but  because  our  hearts  were  too  full,  that  we  have  not  before  now 
expressed  the  deep  sense  we  entertain  of  the  honor  conferred  upon  us 
by  your  presence.  To  leave  the  affairs  of  nations  to  attend  on  the  essays 
of  inexperienced  youth,  how  great  the  change,  how  great  the  condescen- 
sion. But  to  countenance  science,  even  in  its  humble  walks,  to  protect 
and  honor  hterature,  has  been  the  employment  of  great  and  wise  legis- 
lators. Neither  are  they  personally  unconcerned  in  such  a  business. 
The  muse,  cherished  by  them,  has  recorded  their  actions,  or  sung  their 
praise,  in  lines  more  durable  than  the  sculptured  stone,  the  carved  brass 
or  the  towering  pyramid.     Nor  shall  such  be  wanting  to  you.     The 


APPENDIX   V  277 

faithful  historian,  some  American  Livy  or  Robertson,  shall  tell  to  ages 
yet  unborn,  the  deeds  of  those  patriots  whose  virtue,  wisdom  and  perse- 
verance, procured  the  blessings  which  they  enjoyed  ;  and  as  wise,  virtuous 
and  firm  as  the  American  Congress  shall  be  a  compliment  to  the  legisla- 
tors of  futurity.  Nor  in  that  day,  illustrious  and  magnanimous  chief, 
shall  thy  actions  and  thy  exploits  be  unrecorded.  Some  future  bard, 
whom  all  the  muses  love  —  oh,  that  it  might  be  some  happy  son  of 
Nassau  Hall,  shall  tell  in  all  the  majesty  of  epic  song,  the  man  whose 
prudent  conduct,  and  whose  gallant  sword,  taught  the  tyrants  of  the  earth 
to  fear  oppression,  and  opened  an  asylum  for  the  virtuous,  and  free  to 
all  the  world.  But,  adventurous  bard,  whoever  thou  art,  beware  ! 
Leave  poetic  fiction  and  ornament  to  those  whose  themes  require  it ; 
the  greatest  panegyric  of  my  hero  in  his  true  character. 

We  cannot  conclude  without  expressing  our  obligations  to  this  audi- 
ence, for  having  now,  and  so  often  heretofore,  honored  us  with  their 
attention  ;  and,  prompted  by  this  indulgence  to  our  first  essays,  we  will 
carefully  aim  at  producing  something  that  shall  better  deserve  the  atten- 
tion of  the  public. 


APPENDIX  VI 

LIST   OF   PRINCIPAL   SOURCES   AND   AUTHORITIES 

Bancroft,   George,    History    of  the  United   States.     Last   revision. 

New  York,  n.  d. 
BouDiNOT,  Jane  J.,  Life,  public  services,  addresses  and  letters  of  Elias 

Boudinot.     Boston,  1896. 
Curtis,  George  T.,  Constitutional  history  of  the  United  States.     New 

York,  1889. 
Diplomatic  correspondence  of  the  American  Revolution.     Edited  by  J. 

Sparks.     Boston,  1829. 
Diplomatic  correspondence  of  the  United  States  from  September,  1783, 

to  March,  1789.     Washington,  1833. 
Revolutionary  diplomatic  correspondence  of  the  United  States.     Edited 

by  F.  Wharton.     Washington,  1889. 
The  Freeman' s  Journal,  Philadelphia,  1783. 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  Works.     Edited   by  J.  C.   Hamilton.     New 

York,  1851. 
Heitman,  F.  B.,  Historical  Register  of  officers  of  the  Continental  Army. 

Washington,  1893. 
Hageman,  John  F.,  History  of  Princeton  and  its  institutions.     Phila- 
delphia, 1879. 
Hatch,   Louis  C,  Administration  of  the  Revolutionary  Army.     New 

York,  1904. 
The  Independent  Gazetteer.      Philadelphia,  1783. 
McMaster,  John  B.,  History  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.     New 

York,  1898. 
Madison,  James,  Writings.     Edited  by  G.  Hunt.     New  York,  1900. 

"  "        Papers.     Edited  by  H.  D.  Gilpin.    Washington,  1840. 

North   Carolina   State   Records.      Edited   by   W.   Clark.     Vol.   XVI. 

Goldsboro,  N.  C,  1899. 
Pennsylvania.     Minutes  of  the  Supreme  Executive  Council.     (Colonial 

Records,  Vol.  Xlll.)     Harrisburg,  1853. 
The  Pennsylvania  Gazette.      Philadelphia,  1783. 
The  Pennsylvania  Journal.     Philadelphia,  1783. 
Rives,  W.  C,  Life  and  times  of  James  Madison,  Boston,  1866. 
Rivington  s  Royal  Gazette.     New  York,  1783. 
The  Salem  Gazette.      1783. 

Summer,  W.  G.,  The  financier  and  the  finances  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution.    New  York,  1892. 
United  States.     Journal  of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled. 

(Vol.  VIII.)     Philadelphia  (Claypoole),  1783. 
United  States.     Secret  journals  of  Congress.     Boston,  1821. 
The  Virginia  Gazette.      1783. 

Washington,  George,  Writings.     Edited  by  J.  Sparks.     Boston,  1837. 

278 


APPENDIX  VI  279 

MANUSCRIPT   SOURCES. 

Bancroft  Transcripts  from  foreign  archives.     Lenox  Library,  New  York. 

Boudinot  Papers.     Lenox  Library,  New  York. 

Boudinot  Papers.  Library  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society. 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Carleton  Papers.     Lenox  Library,  New  York. 

Clinton  Papers.     State  Library,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Papers  of  the  Continental  Congress.  Library  of  Congress,  Washington, 
D.  C. 

Papers  of  Robert  Livingston,     Lenox  Library,  New  York. 

Papers  of  James  Madison.     Library  of  Congress,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Robert  Morris,  Diary  and  Letter  Books.  Library  of  Congress,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. 

Papers  of  George  Washington.     Library  of  Congress,  Washington,  D.  C. 


INDEX 


Abercrombie,  Joseph,  266 

Adcock,  William,  263 

Aertsen,   Guilliam,   268 

Aitken,  Andrew,  266 ;  John,  268 ; 
Robert,   266 

Alexander,  John,  265,  268 

Allen,   David,   261 

Allenby,  Cartwright  &  Wightman,  267 

Allibone,  William,  269 

Allinson,  Samuel,  260 

Allison,  William,  264 

Anderson,  Isaac,  45,   196 

Annapolis,  Md.,   177,   184,   186,   188 

Anthony,  Joseph,   263 

Armat,    Thomas,    265 

Armi,  Richard,  266 

Armstrong,  John,   31,   263 

Army,  Disbandment  of,  60,  199,  202 

Ash,  Caleb,  267  ;  John,  265 

Ashbridge,    George,   260 

Aston,    George,   264 

Atablie,   Paul,    194,    195 

Atkinson,  William,  261,  262 

Attendance,  Congressional,  at  Prince- 
ton, ^T,  82,  240 

Attlee,  Samuel,   13 

Attmore,    Caleb,    260 ;    Thomas,    260 

Audibert,  Philip,  11 

Austin,    Stephen,    &    Co.,    267 

Avril,  Heinrich,  265 

Bacon,  David,  260 

Bailey,  Francis,  263 ;  John,  262 

Baker,   Christopher,   265 ;   George   A., 

266 ;    Jeremiah,    267 ;    John,    265 ; 

Joseph,   268 ;   Walter,   268 
Balderstone,  John,  261 
Baldwin,   Joshua,   259 
Ball,  Joseph,   262 
Ballinger,  Daniel,  262 
Bankson,  Benjamin,  227 
Barclay,    John,    263 
Barge,  Jacob,  263 
Barker,  John,  263 
Barnard,  Richard,  260 
Barnes,    Cornelius,    264 ;    Mary,    194 
Barney,  Captain,  223 
Barnhill,  John,  266;  Robert,  264 


Bams,  Samuel,  267 

Barrack,  John,  265 

Barrett,  Tobias,  268 

Barron,  John,  266 

Barrows,  John,   265 

Barry,  Richard,  268 

Bartholomew,   Edward,  2(>(i 

Bartlett,  Richard,  260 

Barton,   William,   266 

Bates,  Hezekiah,  262 

Bayard,  Andrew,  157;  John,  160,  161, 

266 
Beach,   Samuel,    157 
Beackley,  Christian,  264 
Beale,  John,  260 
Beaulieu,  Louis  I.  de,  205 
Beazley,  Edward,   177 
Beck,  John,   267 
Bedford,   Gunning,   38,    159,    180;   on 

committees,   146;   motions  by,   178, 

182 
Beekman,  Christopher,  45,  125,  196 
Beelen   of   Berthoeff,   Baron,   217 
Bell,  John,   193  ;  William,  264,  265 
Bellanger,  Thomas,  261 
Benezet,    Anthony,    259 ;    Philip,    264 
Bennett,    Hugh,    265 ;    James,    12,    31 
Beresford,  Richard,  225 
Bergen,     George,     45;     Jacob,     126; 

Jacob  G.,   193,   194,   19s 
Bernard,  Jeremiah,  Jr.,  2(>2  ;  Nicholas, 

26s 
Bemhard,  Mathias,  265 
Berrien,    John,    45 ;    Margaret    (Mrs. 

John),   100,   196 
Berry,  John,  259 
Bessonnett,  Charles,  128 
Betterton,  Benjamin,  268 
Betts,   Simes,   261 
Bickerton,  George,  266 
Bickham,   Caleb,   263 ;   George,   263 
Biddle,     Gement,     266 ;     John,     266 ; 

Owen,  261 
Billing,    Lewis,   264 
Bindon,  Joshua,  266 
Birchall,  John,  259 
Bispham,  Joseph,   268 
Bissell,  Elihu,  268 


281 


282 


INDEX 


Blackford,  Gerard,  Jr.,  262 

Blaine,  Ephraim,  268 

Blair,  William  L.,  263 

Blanc,  Wagner  I.,  265 

Blanchard,  J.  D.,  269 

Bland,  Theodoric,  95,  113,  185;  on 
committees,  60,  75,  77;  motions  by, 
137,   169 

Bleakley,  J.,  273 

Bogert,  John  J.,  267 

Bond,  Charles,  225,  227 ;  Thomas, 
266 

Bonham,  Ephraim,  266 

Bonsall,  Edward,   261 ;   Isaac,  260 

Boor,  John  Abraham  de,  241 

Boos,  Peter,  266 

Boreaff,  Martin  264 

Borton,  Isaac,  262 

Boudinot,  Elias,  receives  news  of 
peace,  i  ;  to  Robt.  Morris,  10,  59  ; 
stopped  by  mutineers,  21 ;  to  Wash- 
ington, 22,  39 ;  to  Elisha  Boudinot, 
27 ;  proclamation  adjourning  to 
Princeton,  28,  37 ;  residence  at 
Princeton,  51  et  seq.;  to  Major 
Jackson,  65 ;  reply  to  Princeton 
address,  70 ;  thanks  Col.  Morgan, 
71;  replies  to  Newark  address,  84; 
replies  to  N.  J.  Militia  address, 
84 ;  replies  to  Philadelphia  address, 
89 ;  congratulatory  address  to 
Washington,  108,  no;  expenses  at 
Princeton,  120,  122,  261  ;  proclama- 
tion of  pardon,  145  ;  at  Commence- 
ment, 159,  160;  disapproves  double 
federal  residence,  186;  proclama- 
tion discharging  army,  202 ;  procla- 
mation of  thanksgiving,  202 ;  Van 
Berckel's  arrival,  221 ;  to  Van 
Berckel,  220,  222 ;  Van  Berckel's 
reception,  223,  224 ;  address  to  Van 
Berckel,  234 ;  state  dinner,  236 ; 
to  City  of  Hamburg,  241  ;  corre- 
spondence with  Dr.  Thos.  Wren,  270 

Boudinot,  Elisha,   83 

Bowman,  Charles,  268 

Bowen,  Thomas,  265 

Bowie,    Ralph,    157 

Bowne,  George,  262 

Boyd,  Alexander,  263 ;  John,  100 

Boyer,  Michael,  268 

Boyle,  Alexander,  266 

Boys,  Elias,  264 ;  Nathan,  268 

Bradford,  Thomas,  266 

Bradley,  Thomas,  268 

Bradway,  Edward,  261 


Brady,  Jacob,  266 

Brearley,  David,  42,  155 

Brewer,  William,  262 

Bridges,  Robert,  263 

Briggs,  Samuel,  262 

Bright,  Jacob,  267 

Bringhurst,    James    260 ;    Joseph,    259 

Brinton,  Joseph,  260 

Britt,  Daniel,  261 

Britton,  Charity,   194 

Brookes,  John,  264 

Brotherton,    Henry,   262 

Brouwer,  John,  267 

Brown,    John,    265 ;    John,    Jr.,    264 ; 

Jonathan,  260  ;  Joseph,  265  ;  Joshua, 

259 ;    Richard,    259  ;    Samuel,    260 ; 

Thomas,  261 ;   William,   262,  265 
Brusster,  Henry,  265  ;  James,  265 
Bryson,  James,  265 
Buckley,  Phineas,  260 
Budd,  Joseph,  261  ;  Levi,  265 
Buddin,  William,  266 
Bunner,  A.,  263 
Bunting,    Joshua,    259 ;    Josiah,    259 ; 

Samuel,  260 
Burnet,  William,  82 
Burrough,  Joseph,  262 
Butler,    John,    260;    Richard,    12,    13 
Byerly,  Christopher,  264 
Byrne,     James,     268 ;     Patrick,     263 ; 

Richard,   267 
Byrnes,  Daniel,  259 ;  John,  265 

Cadwalader,  Isaac,  261  ;   Moses,  262 
Caldwell,    John,    264 ;     Robert,    266 ; 

Samuel,  264 
Callaghan,  Henry,  264 
Cameron,  Dugald,  260 
Campbell,   John,   267 ;    John,   Jr.,    268 
Canby,  Eli,  267;   Samuel,  261 
Caner,  Michael,  264 
Cape,  John,  49 

Carberry,  Henry,  12,  18,  30,  32 
Carey,  Thomas,  261 
Carleton,  Sir  Guy,  189,  249 
Carlton,  Richard,  267 
Carlyle,  Alexander,  263 
Carman,   William,   144 
Carpenter,  John,  261 
Carre  &  Mercier,  266 
Carrell,   John,   269 
Carroll,  Charles,  96,  148,  151  ;  Daniel, 

161,   213,   242;   on  committee,    189, 

230,  240;  motions,  178 
Carron,  William,  264 
Carson,    Andrew,    268 ;    Joseph,    267 


INDEX 


283 


Carter,  John,  263 

Cartwright,  Allenby  &  Wightman,  267 
Gather,  Robert,  265 
Cathrall,  Benjamin,  261 
Cattell,  Jonas,  259 
Cavenough,  William,  268 
Cecil,  Charles,  265 
"Centaur"  warship,  217 
"La  Ceres"  warship,  217 
Chalkley,  James,  267 
Chaloner,  John,  266 
Chambers,    Alexander,     193,    195 
Charapnis,  James,  268 
Charleston,    Md.,    and    federal    resi- 
dence,  177 
Charmberling,    Charles,   263 
Chay,   Joseph,   265 
Checkley,   John   Webb,   263 
Chesshir,  Joel,  259 
Chestnutwood,  Jacob,   262 
Child,  John,  260 
Christian,  Frederick,  268 
Chrystie,    Captain,    14,    25,    144 
Churchman,    George,    259 ;    Mordecai, 

259 
Cincinnati,   Society  of  the,    154,    155, 

162 
Clambel,   Philip,   268 
Glampflfer,  Adam,  263 
Clark,    Abraham,    160,    161,    motions, 

75,    96,    187;    on    committees,    141, 

17s,    180,    227,    229 
Clark,     Joseph,     260 ;     Samuel,     260 ; 

William,    265 
Clarke,   Benjamin,  262 ;  Isaac,   260 
Clarkson,  John  L.,  263  ;  Samuel,  264 
Clay,  C,  266;  W.  267 
Glaypoole,  David  C,  266 ;  James,  266 
Clayton,   Aaron,   261  ;   Samuel,   267 
Clever,  Ellis,  262 ;  Ezekiel,  261 
Clements,   William,    157 
Clifford,   Thomas,   262 
Qiffton,  Henry,  260  ;  William,  261 
Clifton,   William,   265 
Clinton,   Samuel,  267 
Clymer,   Daniel,   263 
Coale,  William,  262 
Coates,  Moses,  260 
Coats,    Isaac,    259 ;    Isaac,    Jr.,    267 ; 

William,  266,  267 
Cobb,  David,  157 
Cocks,  Robert,  267 
Coffing,   Elijah,   265 
Cohen,  Moses,  267 
College  of  New  Jersey,  see  Princeton 

University 


Collier,  Richard,  266 

Collignon,  M.,   117 

Collings,  Abraham,  267 

Collins,  John,  161,  260,  261  ;  Isaac, 
194;  Stephen,  265;  Zacchariah,  269 

Comegys,  Cornelius,  264 

Comfort,  Ezra,  260 ;  John,  259 

Commutation  act,  4 

Conarroe,  Thomas,  260 

Condict,  Silas,   182,   187 

Congress,  Commutation  Act,  4 ;  ad- 
dress to  states  5  ;  and  the  mutiny, 
21,  23 ;  opinion  of  flight  of,  33 ; 
at  Princeton,  55,  56,  57;  thanks 
college,  57;  pardons  mutineers,  91  ; 
audience  with  Washington,  103, 
108;  at  Commencement,  155;  re- 
fuses to  return  to  Philadelphia, 
171 ;  jurisdiction  over  federal  resi- 
dence, 1 72 ;  debate  on  federal  resi- 
dence, 174,  180,  186;  receives 
Quaker  deputation,  181  ;  debate  on 
temporary  residence,  182,  188; 
proclamation  discharging  army,  202  ; 
on  foreign  commerce,  211;  recep- 
tion of  Van  Berckel,  221,  231  ;  end 
of  session,  242 

Connely,  Isaac,  268 

Conor,   Peter,  265 

Conyngham,  David  H.,  264 

Cookson,  Samuel,  261 

Coope,  Abiah,  262 

Cooper,  Charles,  263 ;  David,  259 ; 
James,  267 ;  Samuel,  259 ;  William, 
Jr.,  261 

Copeland,  Cowperthwaite,  261 

Corbet,  David  L.,  177 

Corry,  Samuel,  267 

Cottinger,  James,  264 

Cottringer,   Garrett,  264;  James,   265 

Coutts,  Samuel,  265 

Cowgill,  Ezekiel,  259 ;  Henry,  259 ; 
John,  259 

Cowperthwaite,  Joseph,  265 

Cox,  John,  41,  42,  268;  Paul,  267; 
Richard,  155,  162 

Coxe,  John  D.,  263  ;  William,  Jr.,  264 

Craig,  Daniel,  268  ;  James,  268  ;  James, 
Jr.,  264 ;   John,  264 ;   William,   265 

Cresson,    James,    261  ;   Joshua,    261 

Crolius,  Peter,  194 

Croner,  Lewis,  266 

Crozier,  Robert,  269 

Crynen,  John,  265 


284 


INDEX 


Cuming,     David,     260 ;    James,     264 ; 

Robert,  265 
Cuthbert,  Thomas,  265 

DANciNG-master   at   Princeton,    129 

Darnder,  Christian,  264 

Darnel,    Edward,    261  ;    Lewis,    261 ; 

Samuel,  261 
Davey,  William,  268 
David,  John,  266 
Davidson,  Robert,  45,  264 
Davies,  Joseph,  260 
Davis,  Benjamin,  Jr.,  269  ;  George,  176 
Davison,  John,  268 
Dawes,   Abijah,   261 ;   Jonathan,   262 ; 

Rumford,  261 
Dawson,  Daniel,  262 ;  Michael,  267 
Dayton,   Elias,    155,    162,    176;   Jona- 
than, 157,  161 
Dean,  Joseph,  266 
Deare,  Jonathan,  45,  105,  196,  238 
Deberger,   Henry,  265 
Definitive  treaty,  211,  215,  231 
Deforest,   Henry,  267 
DeHaven,    Hugh,    268 
Delany,  Sharp,  268 
Delaware  Indians  at  Princeton,  148 
Dellap,   Samuel,  265  ;  William,  268 
Del  Verme,  Count,  115 
De  Melvil,  Captain,  217 
Denmark,  Treaty  with,  220 
Dennock,  Joshua,  259 
Dennis,    Philip,    261  ;    Richard,   265 
Denny,  Ebenezer,   19 
Dick,    Daniel,    267 ;    Frederick,    267 ; 

Peter,  267 
Dickenson,   Cadwalader,   268 ;   Daniel, 

261 
Dickinson,   John,    15,    18,   21,    32,   90, 

91  ;  Philemon,  42,  224 
Dillwyn,  George,  259 
Dilworth,  Samuel,  266 
Dimond,  Jacob,  265 
Dingee,  Charles,  261 
Dingle,  Christopher,  261 
Dishong,   Christian,   268 
Dixon,  John,  193  ;  Willim,  259 
Donaldson,  Arthur,  265 ;  Joseph,  Jr., 

266 
Dorsey,     Benedict,     260 ;     John,     Jr., 

268 ;  Leonard,  266 
Dorssiere,  M.,  129 
Dougherty,   Dennis,   267 
Doughty,   Christopher,   122 ;   William, 

260 
Downing,    Silas,    259 ;    William,    260 


Downs,  William,  267 

Doz,  Andrews,  265 

Drais,  Peter,  268 

Draper,  Jonathan,  265 

Drinker,  Daniel,  259 ;  Henry,  261  ; 
John,   261 

Drum,  Charles,  268 

Duane,  James,  160,  161  ;  on  com- 
mittees, 89,  92,  96,  142,  148,  173, 
176,  180,  200,  202,  203,  210,  212, 
214,  226,  227,  229,  240,  241 ;  mo- 
tions by,  171,   178,   183,  188,  243 

Dubois,  Henry,  265 

Duche,  Jacob,  267 

Duffield,  George,  160,  264 

Dugan,  John,  264 

Dugh,  James,  259 

Duncan,  David,  265 ;  John,  262 ; 
Matthew,   267 

Dunham,  Azariah,  175 

Dunlap,   James,   264 ;   John,   229,   266 

Du  Ponceau,  P.  S.,  86 

Du  Portail,  Louis  L.,   138,  206 

Du  Simitiere,  P.  E.,  266 

Dyer,  Eliphalet,   141 

EcKHART,  William,  264 

Eddy,  Daniel,  265 

Edenborn,  Peter,  266 

Edwards,  Daniel,  268 

Eldredge,  Jehu,  267 

EHzabethtown,  N.  J.,  federal  resi- 
dence,   176 

Ellery,  William,  130,  160,  161  ;  on 
committees,  189,  203,  208,  210,  230; 
motions  by,  96,  137,  149,  150,  184, 
188 

Elliott,  John,  Jr.,  261 

Ellis,  John,  261  ;  Peter,  262 ;  William, 
260 

Elmer,  Ebenezer,   155,   162 

Ellsworth,  Oliver,  38,  130,  160;  com- 
mittees,  16,  24,  25,  60,   71,  97 

Ely,   George,    193,    195 ;    Hugh,   261 

Emlen,  George,  266 ;  James,  259 ; 
Samuel,  Jr.,  259 

Engles,  Archibald,  265 

Epple,  Andrew,  268 

Erwin,  Robert,  264 

Esler,  Jacob,  263 

Esterly,   George,  266 

Eszling,   Paul,  265 

Evans,  Benjamin,  267 ;  Cadwalader, 
267 ;  David,  259,  266 ;  Enoch,  261  ; 
Evan,  262  ;  George,  259,  267,  268 ; 


INDEX 


285 


John,    261 ;    Robert,    261  ;    Thomas, 

259,  260 
Evarhart,  John,  264 
Eves,  John,  260 
Ewing,  James,  195 

Eyre,  Benjamin  G.,  266;  Isaac,  267 

Falconer,  Thomas,  268 
Paries,    William,    266 
Farmer,   Ferdinand,   267 ;   Lewis,   263 
Farquhar,  Allen,  259  ;  Thomas,  260 
Feariss,  Francis,  264 
Fearnley,  Thomas,  262 
Fell,  William,  259 
Ferrall,  Patrick,  268 
Feree,  John,  260 
Ferrel   (?),  John,  260 
Few,  Joseph,  264 
Fick,  David,   193,   195 
Field,  Elijah,  268;  John,  260 
Finley,  James,   122,   196,  265 
Fish,   John,   266 

Fisher,  Jonathan,  266 ;  Joseph,  266 ; 
Miers,  259 ;  Samuel,  267 ;  Thomas, 

260,  261 

Fitzgerald,  Lawrence,  264;  Robert, 
267  ;  Thomas,  266 

Fitzsimmons,  Thomas,  10,  78,  159, 
161,  210,  212;  committees,  75,  210, 
212;  Thomas  (Princeton  merchant), 
223 

Flahaven,  Roger,  267;  Roger,  Jr.,  267 

Fleison,   Plunket   (?),  263 

Flower,  John,   260 

Flowers,  Thomas,  144 

Floyd,   William,    161 

Follett,  Thomas,  259 

Folwell,  William,   262 

Footman,  Richard,  263 

Forbes,  William,  264 

Ford,  Timothy,  157 

Forde,   Standish,   266 

Foreign  commerce,  211,  213 

Forman,  David,  155  ;  John,  261  ;  Jona- 
than, 162 

Forsythe,  John,  262 

Foster,  Abiel,  171,  174,  179;  Alex- 
ander,  266 ;   John,   268 

Foulke,  Adam,  263  ;  Caleb,  261 

Fourth  of  July  Exercises,  73 

Fox,    Edward,    266 ;    Samuel   M.,    268 

Francis,  John,  268 ;  Tench,  86,  263 ; 
Thomas,  266 

Frank,  Isaac,  266 

Franklin,  John,  262  ;  Thomas,  262,  264 

Frazer,  Hugh,  268 


Frelinghuysen,  Frederick,  155,  175,  224 

French,   Robert,   260 ;   William,  229 

Froen,  Antoni,  264 

Fromberger,  John,  263 

Fullerton,  Alexander,  266  ;  John,  267  ; 

Richard,  239 
Furlough  orders,  6 
Furman,  Josiah,  262;  Moore,  194,  195 

Gallager,  James,  263 

Gallaudet,   Peter  W.,  265 

Gamble,  Archibald,  269 

Gardner,  Archibald,  267 

Garrett,  Nathan,  .259 

Garrigues,  Edward,  259  ;  Samuel,  260  ; 

William,   262 
Gartley,  John,  265 
Gascend,    Jacob,    268 
Gaspery,  Francis,  122 
Gaul,   Martin,   264 
Gebler,  Godfrey,  265 
Geisse,  William,  267 
Geistier,  Stephen,  267 
George  II.,  Portrait  in  Nassau  Hall, 

108 
George,  Thomas,  262 
Georgetown,  D.  C,  178,  186,  188 
Germantown,    Pa.,    and    federal    resi- 
dence, 176 
Gerry,    Elbridge,    130,    160,    161,    175, 

178;    motions    by,    149,    174,    186; 

committees,  180,  189,  200,  210,  226, 

227,  230,  238 
Gibbons,  James,   260 
Gibbs,  Benjamin,  268  ;  Jonathan,  262 

Joshua,  261 ;  Josiah  W.,  267  ;  Lucas, 

260 
Gilbert,  John,  260 
Gilchrist  A.,  266  ;  James,  266 
Gillingham,    Yeamans,    262 
Goodale,  Nathan,  207 
Goodrich,   Elizur,    157 
Goodwin,  Richard,   261 
Gorham,  Nathaniel,   10,   146,   161 
Gourron,  Colonel,  206 
Govett,  William,  264 
Gracy,  John,  259 
Graff,  Enoch,  259 ;  Jacob,  263  ;  John, 

264 ;  Joseph,  263 
Graham,  William,  264,  266 
Grammar   School,   Nassau   Hall,    164, 

272 
Grant,  John,  268 ;  Lewis,  266 
Gray,  William,  264 
Grebel,  Andrew,  268 


286 


INDEX 


Green,  Ashbel,  55,  74,   157,  158,   161, 

164,   165,  273  ;  John,  265 
Greene,  Ebenezer,  207,  238 
Greenfield,  Jesse,  267 
Greenway,  Joseph,  265 
Griffith,  Abraham,  295 
Griffiths,  William,  267 
Griffitts,  James,  260 
Griscom,  William,  295 
Grogan,  Patrick,  267 
Grumman,  Ichabod,  Jr.,  128 
Guerin,   Antoine,    265 
Guest,  John,  262 
Gummere,  Samuel,  260 
Gxmckel,  Michael,  264 
Gurney,  Francis,  263 

Haas,  George,  268 

Habacker,   George,   266 

Haines,   Caleb,  260;  Jesse,  261;  Job, 

262  ;  Reuben,  264 ;   Samuel,  259 
Hall,      David,      260;      Philip,      268; 

Thomas,    262 ;    Walter,    267 ;    Wil- 
liam,  264 
Hallo  well,  Thomas,  261  ;  William,  Jr., 

260 
Hamburgh,  Free  City  of,  241 
Hamilton,   Alexander,    5,    16,    24,    26, 

38,  60,  67,  93,  160,  248;  James,  45, 

196  ;   Hans,   267 
Hamilton  &  Sons,  267 
Hampton,   Samuel,  260 
Hamton,   Benjamin,   259 
Hancock,   Henry,   264 
Hankinson,  Peter,  194 
Hanlon,  Edward,  268 
Hanse,  Conrad,  266 
Hapenny,  Mark,  265 
Harbeson,  Benjamin,  265 
Hardy,    William,    267 
Harlan,  Caleb,  260 
Harned,  Josiah,   122 ;  William,   122 
Harper,  John,  265 
Harries,  James,  267 
Harris,   Ephraim,    175;   Temple,   268; 

William,    268 
Harrison,    John,    45,    121,    196,    236, 

238,  264 ;  Thomas,  262 
Hart,  Seymour,  267 
"  Hartford,"  packet  ship,  231 
Hartley,   James,    267 ;    John,    267 
Hartman,   Philip,   122 
Hartshorne,   William,   261 
Harvey,   Amos,   259 ;    Sampson,   263 ; 

William,    259 
Harwood,  Benjamin,  92 


Haskell,  Elnathon,  205 

Hassell,  William,  267 

Hatton,    Peter,   261 

Haverstick,  William,  266 

Haviland,  Daniel,  259 

Hawk,   Christian,   266 

Hawkins,  Benjamin,  12,  38,  151,  159, 
247;  on  committees,  71,  92,  189, 
227 

Hawley,  Joseph,  259 

Haworth,     George,     260 ;     John,     262 

Haydock,  John,  262 

Hayes,  Henry,  260 

Haynes,  George,   263 ;   John,   267 

Hazard,  Ebenezer,  265 

Hazelwood,  John,  264  ;  John,  Jr.,  267 

Hazlehurst,  Isaac,  263 

Hazleton,  Hamilton,  265 

Hedger,  Samuel,  261 

Heinitsh,  Charles,  268 

Heiss,  Dieterick,  177 

Helmuth,    Henry,   263 

Henderson  G.,  264 ;  John,  268 ;  Mat- 
thew, 264;  Thomas,  155;  William, 
264,   266 

Helm,   Jonathan,    263 

Henry,  George,  266 ;  Hugh,  267 ; 
William,  14,  15,  266 

"Hercula"  warship,  217 

Hewes,   Josiah,   263 

Heyl,  George,  268;  Philip,  268 

Hibberd,   Abraham,   266 

Hibberd,  Abraham,  260 

Hicks,   Samuel,   262 

Higginson,  Stephen,  on  committees, 
56,  75,  77,  81,  84,  8s,  89,  93,  i7S, 
212,  229 

Higher,  Joseph,  194 

Hillegas,  Michael,  266 

Hilles,    David,    262 

Hilliar,  John,  260 

Hiltzheimer,  Jacob,  19,  264;  Robert, 
267 

Hinkler,   Jacob,    267 

Hirst,  John,  261 

Hister,  Conrad,  268 

Hodge,  Andrew,  Sen.,  268 ;  Hugh,  268 

Hodgson,  Samuel,  263 

HoflF,   Conrad,  268 

Hollingsworth,  Christopher,  259  :  Tehu, 
260 ;    Levi,    266 ;    Stephen,    266 

Hollinshead,  Edmund,  262 ;  William, 
26s 

Holmes,   Obadiah,   157;   Thomas,   268 

Holten,  Samuel,  130,  160,  161  ;  mo- 
tions by,  75,  137,  174,  242;  on  com- 
mittees 96,  202,  227 


INDEX 


287 


Hood,  James,   263 

Hooper,  R.  L.,  155 

Hoopes,  David,  260 ;  Thomas,  Jr., 
259  ;   William,  261 

Hopkins,  John,  262 ;  Samuel,  260 ; 
Thomas,  267 ;  Wood,  263 

Hopkinson,  Francis,   190,   266 

Horn,  Drummer  4th  Penna.  Art.,  144 

Home,  John,  261 

Homer,  Benjamin,  260 

Horton,  Azariah,  265  ;  Elizabeth,  194 

Hoskins,  John,  259  ;  Raper,  262 

Houck,  John,  267 

Hough,  Benjamin,  260 ;  John,  260 ; 
Thomas,  260 

Houston,  William  C,  42,  75,  194,  19S 

How,  Micajah,  194 

Howe,  Robert,  60,  61,  65,  143,  145, 
146 

Howell,  Arthur,  261  ;  David,  38,  114, 
130,  169;  on  committee,  238;  mo- 
tions by,  96,  137,  171,  174;  Jacob 
S.,  264 ;  John,  261  ;  John,  Jr.,  266  ; 
Joshua,  261  ;  Samuel,  261 

Hubley,  Adam,  267 

Huff,  John,  121 

Hughes,  Nathan,  264  ;  Owen,  259 

Humphrey,  David,  157 

Humphreys,  Assheton,  267 ;  Benja- 
min, 261  ;  Charles,  268;  John,  260; 
Richard,  261  ;  Thomas,  267 

Humpton,  Richard,  11 

Hunt,  Benjamin,  45;  James,  157; 
John,  260;  John,  Jr.,  261;  Joshua, 

259 

Hunter,  Andrew,  155,162;  James,  265 
Huntington,      Benjamin,      118,      171; 

Samuel,    161,   200;   on  committees, 

96,    131,    173,    180,   202,    203,    210, 

212,  229,  240,  241 
Huston,  Lieutenant,  25,  144 
Hutchins,  Thomas,  189;  Thomas,  Jr., 

122 
Hutchinson,  James,   264 
Hutton,  John,  261  ;   Samuel,   260 
Hyer,  Jacob,  45,  126,  196 

Iddings,  James,  260 ;  William,  259 
Indian  question,  148 
Ingels,  George,  264 
Inglis,   Samuel,  266 
Irwin,    Matthew,    264 ;    Thomas,    265 
Israel,  Joseph,  265 

Izard,  Ralph,  on  committee,  53,  85, 
89,   148 


Jackson,  John,   262;   Major,   12,   16; 

Samuel,  265 ;  William,  Jr.,  261 
Jacobs,  Isaac,  261 
James,    Abel,    266 ;    Abel,    Jr.,    262 ; 

Francis,  J.,  105;  Isaac,  262;  John, 

193,  260,  268  ;  Joseph,  261 
Janney,     A.,     194,     Bleakston,     262; 

Joseph,  259 ;  Mahlon,  260 
January,   Benjamin,   268 
Jefferis,   Cheyney,   261  ;   William,   261 
Jefferson,   Thomas,   243 
Jenkins,    Joseph,    261 
Jeodon,  Peter,  265 
Jess,  Zachariah,  260 
John,   Griffith,    260 ;    Joshua,   260 
Johnes,  Timothy,   160,   161,    165 
Johnson,  Joseph,  266  ; — of  Princeton, 

196 ;    Samuel,    36 ;    William,   265 
Johnston,  Gershon,  128 
Joline,  Anthony,  45,  48 
Jolly,  Charles,  265  ;  Mayburry,  264 
Jones,  Calwalader,  261  ;  Edward,  261  ; 

Isaac,  267 ;  James,  Jr.,  262  ;  John, 

263,    264;    John    Paul,    117,    240; 

Joseph,  185;  Nathan,  227,  262,  264; 

Norris,  260 ;   Owen,   259 ;   Richard, 

261  ;    Robert,   267 ;   William,   266 
Joy,  Daniel,  267 
Junto  in  Congress,  154 
Jurisdiction  of  Congress  over  federal 

residence,   172 

Kains,  Christoffer,  265 
Kammerer,  Henry,  266 
Karcher,  L.,  264 
Keates,  William,  265 
Keating,  Luke,  268 
Keble,  John,  263 
Keen,  Reynold,  264 
Keith,  John,  264 
Kelm,   Samuel,   268 
Kelsey,  Enos,  45,  105,  196 
Kendall,   Joseph,   263 
Kenley,  William,  263 
Kennedy,  Andrew,  269 
Keppele,  Henry,  263  ;  William,  261 
Kerlin,  William,  267 
Kersey,   William,   259 
Kier,  Georg,  268 

Killbuck,  John,    148;   Thomas,    148 
Kimber,   Caleb,  259 
Kimmell,  Michael,  263 
King,  Danie!,  267 

Kingston-on-Hudson,  and  federal  resi- 
dence,  17s 
Kinnan,  William,  268 


288 


INDEX 


Kinnear,  James,  267 

Kinsell,   Frederick,   268 

Kirk,  Caleb,  261  ;  Elisha,  260 ;  Isaiah, 

261 
Kirkbride,  Jonathan,  260 ;  Robert,  260 
Kite,    Benjamin,    261 
Kitts,   George,  Jr.,   264 ;   Jacob,   264 ; 

Michael,   264 
Kling,  John,  266 
Knarij,  Charles,  264 
Knight,  Giles,  Jr.,  259  ;   Peter,  264 
Knox,  Henry,  208,  226 ;  Robert,  266 ; 

Mrs.  (of  Princeton),  196 
Kosciusko,  Count,  207 
Kotts,  Conrad,   194 
Kraft,  Peter,  266 
Kuhl,  Frederick,  266 
Kuhn,    Peter,    264 
Kunze,  John  C,  268 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  i,  248 

Laing,  John,  261 

Lamb,     Daniel,     262 ;     Joshua,     262 ; 

Pierce,    261 ;    William,    265 
Land,   Henry,   268 
Lancaster,  Aaron,  259 
Lancaster,   Pa.,  garrison  mutinies,   13 
Langbourne,   William,  205 
Lardner,   John,   265 
Larkin,  Isaac,  260 
Laskey,  Edward,  265 
Latimer,  George,  266 
Laumoy,  Brig.  General,  206 
Laurens,  Henry,  249 
Lawler,  Matthew,  267 
Lawrence,  —  of  Princeton,  196,  197; 

Nathaniel,    157,    158;    William,    266 
Learning,   Thomas,  Jr.,   268 
Leamy,  John,  264 
Lee,  Arthur,  80,  159;  on  committees, 

89,  97,  151,  212,  226,  227,  240,  241 ; 

motions  by,  97,  169,  172,  186,  189; 

Francis,    263 ;    Mordecai,    260 
Leeds,  Daniel,  261  ;  Vincent,  261 
Lehman,    George,    265 
Leib,  George,  265  ;  M.,  265 
Lenaigri,  Z.,  264 
Le   Roy,   Jacob,    157 
Letchworth,  John,  261  ;   William,  262 
Letelier,  John,  267 
Levering,  Jacob,  265 
Levy,  Isaac,  267  ;  Moses,  265 
Lewden,  John,  260 
Lewis,    Evan,    262 ;    Mordecai,    263 ; 

Morgan,    157,    161;    Nathan,    262; 

Robert,  262 


Lex,  Peter,  264 

L'Hommedieu,  Ezra,  113 

Libe,   Samuel,   268 

Lightfoot,   Thomas,   259 

Lilly,  Gunner  4th  Penna.  Art.,  144 

Lincoln,    Benjamin,    10,    12,    34,    142, 

221,  223,  224,  231 
Lindley,  Jacob,   259 
Linington,  John,   268 
Linton,    Benjamin,    259 ;    John,    265 ; 

W.,  261 
Lippincott,  William,  262 
Lisle,  John,  266 
Little,  John,  45,  196 
Littler,  Nathan,  262 
Livingston,  Mrs.  (of  Princeton),  196; 

Robert  James,  45  ;   Robert  R.,   36 ; 

William,  42,  68,  155 
Lockhart,  Josiah,  267 
Lodwick,   Martin,  268 
Loehmann,   John,   263 
Logan,    George,    265 
Lohra,  Peter,  264 
Longstreet,  Aaron,  127,  196 
Longstreth,   Daniel,   261 
Lord,  Constantine,  261 
Losbothim,  James,  267 
Lott,  Mrs.  (of  Princeton),  196 
Low,   James    H.,    268 ;    Nicholas,    265 
Lownes,    Caleb,    262 ;   William,   262 
Lukens,   Joseph,   260 
Limdy,  Jacob,  Jr.,  261 
Luzerne,  Marquis  de  la,  31,  160,  210, 

224,   229,   240,  252 
Lynch,   Edward,   265 
Lyne,  John,  265 
Lynn,  John,  259 
Lyon,  Samuel,  27 
Lyons,  S.,  271 
Lypton,  John,   260 

McCaskey,  Cornelius,  265 
McClenachan,  Blair,  266 ;  Robert,  267 
McClung,   Charles,   266 
McComb,  James,  45,   105,   196,  238 
McConnell,    Matthew,   266 
McCrea,  James,   266 
McCullough,  David,  268 
McCutcheon,  James,  264 
McFarlane,  John,  264 
McGee,  Robert,  264 
McGintey,  John,  264 
McGuire,   Matthew,   265 
McHenry,    James,    95,    loi,    113,    159, 
161,   172,   184,  243;  on  committees. 


INDEX 


289 


56,  77,  84,  142,  173,  176,  178;  mo- 
tions by,  i72i  213 

Mcllhenny,   William,   266 

Mcintosh,  Donald,  265 

McKay,   Andrew,   261 

McKim,  John,  263 

McKinley,  John,  265 

McLane,   Samuel,  266 

McLaughlin,  John,  269 

McLean,  William,  238 

McMacken,  Andrew,  45,  196 

McMechen,  James,  116 

McMurtrie,    William   271 

McNair,   Solomon,  263,  268 

Macpherson,  John,  266 

Macwhorter,  Alexander,  160,  161 

Madeira,  consulship  at,  226,  227 

Madison,  James,  38,  52,  159,  172,  185, 
219,  22^;  on  committees,  71,  92,93, 
146,   173,   176,    178,  210,  229 

Magaw,  Samuel,  266 

Mail  robbery,  236 

Mailer,  Larazett,  264 

Marache,   Solomon,   263 

Marbois,  M.,  154 

Markoe,  Abraham,  263 

Marot,  Devenport,  261  ;  Philip,  2(>2 

Marshall,  Humphrey,  262 ;  William, 
263 

Martin,  George,  261;  Hugh,  263; 
James,  237 ;  John,  265 

Mason,  Benjamin,  260;  J.,  160;  John, 
269 ;  Richard,  264 

Massey,  Isaac,  259  ;  Thomas,  Jr.,  261 

Master,  Joseph,  268 

Masters,  William,  265 

Mather,  Bartholmew,  261 

Matlock,  Josiah,  264 ;  T.,  263  ;  White, 
266 ;  William,  264 

Matthews,  Thomas,  259 

Maule,  Ebenezer,  262 ;  Jacob,  261  ; 
John,  262 

Maxfield,  Stephen,  263  ;  Thomas,  265 

Mayer,  Job,  267 

Meade,  Z.  George,  263 

Mease,  James,  263 ;  John,  264 ;  Mat- 
thew, 265 

Meeker,  Samuel,  268 

Melcher,  Adam,  268 

Mercer,   John   F.,   66,    169,    171,    182, 

185,     189,     225 

Mercereau,   John,    128 
Merchant,    George,    157 
Mercier  &  Carre,  266 
Meyer,  Frederick,  268 
Michaelis,   F.,    153,    162 
16 


Middleton,  Gideon,  260 ;  Samuel,  261 
Mifflin,     Daniel,    262 ;     George,    267 ; 

John,  268  ;  Jonathan,  268 ;  Thomas, 

97,  242 ;  Warner,  259 
Miles,  Samuel,  264 
Milhous,     Jesse,     262 ;     John,     259 ; 

Thomas,  259 
Miller,     Erhart,     265 ;     Henry,     264 ; 

Jacob,  264  ;  James,  267  ;  John,  266  ; 

John,  Jr.,   266 ;   Mags,   265 ;   Mark, 

259 ;     Samuel,     260 ;     Simon,     266 ; 

Solomon,   259 ;    William,   260,   264 
Milligan,  James,  68,  265 
Milne,    Edmund,    268 ;    Thomas,    268 
Milnor,  Joseph,   194 
Ministers,   American,   instructions  to, 

214 
Minshall,  Griffith,  260 
Mollison,  Mrs.   (of  Princeton),   196 
Molyneux,  Robert,  267 
Montgomery,  Joseph,  38 
Moody,   Thomas,   45,    196 
Moon,   James,   259  ;   Moses,   261 
Moore,     Mr.     (of     Princeton),     196; 

David,  259 ;   Edward,  261  ;  George, 

262;  James,  265;  Job,  194;  Joseph, 

260  ;   Mordecai,   260  ;   Robert,   262  ; 

Stephen,   194 ;  William,  266 
Morford,  Noah,  45,  121  ;  Stephen,  45, 

121 
Morgan,  George,  37,  43,  45,  48,   100, 

120,  19s,  196,  197;  Jacob,  Jr.,  266; 

Thomas,  267 
Morphy,  James,  265 
Morrell,  John,   263  ;   William,   267 
Morris,  Cadwalader,  263  ;  Caleb,  260 ; 

Gouverneur,    11,    28;    John,    271; 

John,  Jr.,  262  ;  Joseph,  267  ;  Joshua, 

259;      Lewis,      175;      Luke,      268; 

Robert,   15,   19,  24,  28,  34,  59,  71, 

76,  78,  92,  117,  219,  223,  231,  334, 

239 ;  Samuel  C,  264 
Morrisania,  and  federal  residence,  175 
Morrison,  John,  144 
Morton,  John,  261 
"  Morven "   Princeton,   N.  J.,   51,   52, 

132 
Moses,  Isaac,  273 
Moulder,  William,  263 
Moylan,  Jasper,  263 
Mullan,  Robert,  268 
Mullen,  James,   267 
Murdock,  John,  267 
Muman,  John,  Bernard  de,  204 
Murray,  E.,  268 


290 


INDEX 


Mutiny  of  1783,  17,  19,  20,  30,  32, 
60,    143,    145 

Nagel,  Rudolph,  214 

Nagle,  Sergeant,  17,  144,  145 

Nancarrow,  John,  266 

Nassau  Hall,  see  Princeton  University 

Neilson,  John,   175 

Nelson,  George,  263 

Nesbit,   Charles,   157 

Nevell,  Thomas,  263 

New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  and  federal 
residence,  175 

New  Jersey,  and  federal  residence, 
175;  militia  present  address,  84 

New  York  and  federal  residence,  175 

Newark,  N.  J.,  presents  address,  82 

Newbold,  Clayton,  262 

Newburgh  Addresses,  3 

Newman,   Paine,  265 

Newport,  James,  263 

Nicholas,  Samuel,  264 

Nichols,  William,  264 

Nicholson,  John,  127,  268 

Nickolls,  James  B.,  264 

Nixon,  John,  266 

Noble,   Arthur,    115 

North,   William,  204 

Norton,  Nathan,  177 

Nottingham,  N.  J.,  and  federal  resi- 
dence,  175 

Nourse,  Joseph,   268 

Nugent,  Edmond,  265 

Uushag,  Charles  William,  264 

Oakford,  Aaron,  260 

■O'Brien,  Michael  Morgan,  263 

Odenheimer,  Philip,  268 

Oifley,  Daniel,  261 

Ogden,    Aaron,    157,    161 ;    Matthias, 

231 
O'Hara,    Bryan,    267 ;    Thomas,    264 
Ohl,   Adam,   267 
Oldden,  John,  267 

Olden,    John,    262 ;    Joseph,    196,    238 
Oliphant,  William,  268 
OUivier  &  Co.,  267 
O'Neaill,   Daniel,   267 
Osgood,   Samuel,   208 
Otley,  William,  261 
Ozeas,  George,  269 

Paine,    Thomas,    86,    115,    229,    266 
Painter,  James,  261 
Paisley,  Robert,  267 
Palmer,  Thomas,  263 


Parke,  Jacob,  262 

Parker   &   Co.,   267 ;    Jeremiah,   268 ; 

John,   260 ;   Thomas,   259 ;   Thomp- 
son, 259 
Parkes,  Joseph,  264 
Parr,  William,  268 
Parrish,  John,  261 
Parry,  John,  259 
Parvin,   Ephraim,  261 
Paterson,   William,    1 75 
Patterson,   Richard,  269 
Patton,     David,     268 ;     John,     264 ; 

Robert,   225,   268 
Paxson,     Aaron,     260 ;     Isaac,     261 ; 

Oliver,  262  ;  Thomas,  261 
Peace  establishment,  60,  90,   137 
Peale,  Charles  Wilson,  165,  166,  266 ; 

James,  266 
Pearce,  John,  267 
Pearson,  Thomas,  295 
Peirce,  John,  261  ;  Joseph,  260 
Pemberton,  James,  259 
Pendleton,   Edmund,   89 
Pennell,  Dell,  267 ;  Joseph,  263 
Pennock,   Caleb,  265  ;  Joseph,  260 
Pennsylvania    State   Council,    20,    25, 

30,  170,  171  ;  and  Indian  relations, 

149 
Penrose,    Joseph,    259,    266 ;    Samuel, 

268;  William,  260 
Perot,  John,  264 
Peters,    Richard,    16,    142,    151,    159, 

173,  180,  187,  229 
Phelan,  Edward,  205 
Philadelphia,   Pa.,   85,  86,    168,  216 
Phile,  Frederick,  265  ;  John,  264 
Phillips,  John,  265,  266 ;  Jonas,  263 ; 

Joseph,     8s;     Richard,     219,     268; 

Willcox,  26s 
Physick,  Henry  W.,  267 
Pickering,  Isaac,  259  ;  Jonathan,  261 ; 

Joseph,  261 
Pierce,  John,  9,  73 
Pim,  Thomas,  261 
Pintard,  John  Marsden,  228 
Pittfield,  B.,  267 
Plankinhom,  Jacob,  263 
Piatt,  Thomas,  267 
Pleasants,  Samuel,  260 
Plowman,  Joshua,  267 
Pole,  Edward,  265 
Polk,  Jehosophat,  263 
Pollard,  John,  265  ;  William,  263 
Pontiere,  Louis  de,  205 
Porter,  David,  264 ;  John,  265 
Portugal,  treaty  with,  227 


INDEX 


291 


Potts,  Jonas,  262 ;  Joseph,  254 ;  Stacy, 

193,  19s 

Poultney,  Anthony,   262 

Powel,   Samuel,   264 

Power,  Alexander,  268 

Poynter,  Richard,  260 

Pratt,   Henry,  267 

Price,  Edward,  263  ;  John,  Jr.,  259 

Philip,  260  ;  Philip,  Jr.,  260 ;  Richard, 
261  ;    William,    265 

Priest,  Emanuel,  268 

Princeton,  N.  J.,  address  to  Congress, 
43>  69;  presence  of  Congress,  55} 
address  to  Washington,  103 ;  in 
1783,  113,  120,  124;  as  federal 
residence,  176;  tries  to  hold  Cong- 
ress, 195 

Princeton  University,  graduates  in 
Congress  38 ;  offers  Nassau  Hall  to 
Congress  45,  58 ;  Fourth  of  July 
exercises  73;  life  in  1783,  127; 
portrait  of  Washington,  165  ;  Com- 
mencement 1783,  15s;  welcomes 
Van  Berckel,  220 

Pringle,  John,  263 

Prior,  Edmund,  260 

Proclamation  adjourning  Congress  to 
Princeton,  28,  30 ;  announcing  ces- 
sation of  hostilities,  4 ;  discharging 
the  army,  202 ;  appointing  public 
thanksgiving,  202 ;  treaty  with  Swe- 
den 93  ;  pardoning  mutineers,  145  ; 
on  Indian  lands,  150 

"  Prospect,"  Princeton,  N.  J.,  43,  57. 
148,  196 

Prowell,  Joseph,  266 

Prudden,  Thomas,  265 

Pryor,  Norton,  266;  Thomas,  263 

Pugh,  John,  261 

Purdon,  John,  266 

Purviance,  John,  266 

Pyle,  John,  264 

Quaker  memorial  to  Congress,  i8i 
Quigley,  Robert,   194 

Radcliffe,  J.,  157 
Raell,   Jacob,   265 
Raguett,  C.  P.,  267 
Rakestraw,   Joseph,   264 
Ralston,  William,  264 
Ramsay,  E.,  157;  John,  266 
Randolph,  B.,  266  ;  Edward,  265 
Read,  Jacob,   on   committees,   $6,   84, 

173.  ^75,  176,  178;  motions  by,  96, 

^37,  169,  170,  180 


Reed,  James,  263 ;  Samuel,  264 

Reaman,  John,  Jr.,  265 

Reddon,  William,  265 

Redman,  Thomas,  260 

Rees,  J.,  267 ;  Joseph,  266 

Reeve,   Mark,  259 

Reinhart,   George,   264 

Remsen,  Henry,  Jr.,  227 

Renshaw,  Richard,  266 

Residence,  Federal,  60,  167,  174,  190; 

temporary  federal,  182 
Reynall,   John,   259 
Reynolds,   Henry,   262 
Rhoads,   Samuel,   262 
Rhode  Island  objects  to  standing  army, 

95 
Rhor,   Israel,   266 
Rice,   Thomas,   267 
Richard,  John,  Jr.,  263 ;  William,  264, 

266 
Richards,  John,  268;  Samuel,  261 
Richardson,   James,   268 ;   John,   263 ; 

Joseph,     260 ;     Joseph,     Jr.,     262 ; 

William,  259 
Riddle,  James,  46,  105,  157 
Ridgway,    Allen,    267 ;    David,    260 ; 

Joseph,   261  ;   William,   262 
Rigden,   William,   266 
Ring,  Elias,  262 
Rinker,  John,  267 
Risberg,  Gustavus,  263 
Risk,  Charles,  263 
Rittenhouse,  David,  266 
Rively,   John,   262 
Robbins,   Nathan,   260 
Robert,  John,  266 
Roberts,     Hugh,     259 ;     Israel,     262 ; 

John,  260,  261  ;  Joseph,  261 ;  Robert, 

263  ;    William,    267 
Robertson,  Alexander,  268 
Robeson,  John,  262 
Robinson,  Ebenezer,  261 
Roche,  Thomas,   266 
Rock,  Mrs.  (of  Princeton),   196 
"  Rockingham,"  Rocky  Hill,  N.  J.,  100, 

130,  226 
Rodgers,  J.,  160,  165 
Roe,  A.,  160 

Roger,  Thomas,  Jr.,   262 
Rogers,     Abner,     259 ;     John,     259 ; 

Robert,  260  ;  Thomas,  260  ;  Thomas, 

Jr.,  261 ;   William,  259 
Roney,  James,  268 
Rose,  Thomas,  259 
Ross,   J.,   264 ;   Thomas,   266 
Rowan,  James,  265 


292 


INDEX 


Rudke,  John,  268 

Rudolph,   John,    264 

Rue,  Joseph,  157 

Runyan,  Hugh,  194;  John,  122 

Rush,  Benjamin,  37,  160,  266;  Joseph, 

267 ;    Richard,   Jr.,  265 
Russell,  Alexander,  264 ;  Joseph,  261 
Rutledge,  John,   161,  212 
Rutter,  George,  265 

St.  Clair,  Arthur,  9,  10,  12 

Salomon,  John,  263 

Salts,  John,  266 

Sanson,  William,  261 

Satterthwait,  John,  261 

Savery,    William,   259 ;    William,   Jr., 

259 
Say,  Thomas,   260 
Scarlet,  John,   261 
Schaffer,  David,  Jr.,  266 
Schenck,  Jacob,  45 
Schiller,    George,   263 
Schini,  Lorenz,  265 
Schlosser,  George,  268 
Scholfield,  Jonathan,  265 
Schredell,  Friederich,  268 
Schreiner,  Jacob,   266 
Schuster,  Adam,   268 
Scot,  Mr.  (of  Princeton),  196 
Scott,  James,  273;  Moses,  175 
Scudder,  William,  85 
Seal,  Caleb,  261 
Seabury,  Mr.,  196 
Seckel,   David,    264 ;    Frederick,   268  ; 

George  David,  264;   Henry,  264 
Second,  Captain,  205 
Seitz,   Charles,   268 ;   George,  269 
Seller,   Christopher,   267 
Sellers,   David,   264 ;  John,   263 ;   Na- 
than, 264 ;  William,  263 
Semple,  William,  264 
Senf,  Hasman,  267 
Sergeant,  Winthrop,  203 
Sergler,  Jacob  L.,  264 
Sexton,  Jared,    122,   196 
Shallurs,  I.,  265 
Shannon,  William,  266 
Sharpies,     Daniel,     259 ;     Joel,     262 ; 

Joseph,  261  ;  Joshua,  261  ;  Nathan, 

262 ;  Thomas,  262 
Shaw,     Archibald,     268 ;     Benjamin, 

266 ;     George,     266 ;     Henry,     261  ; 

William,   265 
Sheaff,  William,  263 
Shearman,  John,  268 
Shee,  John,  266 


Sheed,  William,  268 

Shields,  Thomas,  266 

Shinn,   Samuel,   260 

Shippen,  Edward,  267 ;  William,  264 ; 
William,  Jr.,  266 

Shoemaker,  Abraham,  265  ;  Jacob,  261  ; 
Jacob,  Jr.,  261;  Jonathan,  260; 
Thomas,  261 

Shortall,  Thomas,  264 

Shotwell,  Joseph,  Jr.,  261 

Shreiber,    Peter,   268 

Shubert,  Michael,  266 

Simletter,  Peter,  264 

Simpson,  Ambrose,  266  ;  George,  263  ; 
Jacob,  266 ;  John,  260 ;  Samuel,  261 

Sing,  George,  268 

Singer,  Casper,  263 

Skelton,   Mrs.    (of   Princeton),   196 

Slayter,   Samuel,  269 

Sloan,  Timothy  J.,  268 

Sluyter,  Jan  Jacob,  268 

Smedley,  Jeffrey,  260 ;  Thomas,  Jr., 
259 

Smith,  Aaron,  260 ;  Benjamin,  194, 
195;  David,  177;  James,  259; 
James,  Jr.,  260 ;  James  B.,  265 ; 
John,  261,  264,  265,  267 ;  Jonathan 
Bayard,  157,  160,  161  ;  Robert,  160, 
264 ;  Samuel,  260 ;  Samuel  Stan- 
hope, 43,  45,  46,  196;  Thomas,  264; 
William,  259,  266 ;  William  Pear- 
tree,  82,   160,   161 

Snell,  Benjamin,  263 

Snowden,  Gilbert  Tennent,  74,  157; 
I.,   160 ;  Jedidiah,   266 

Souder,  Jacob,  267  ;  John,  265 

Sparrow,    Archibald,    M.,    264 

Speakman,  Thomas,  262 

Spencer,  Elihu,  160 ;  Joseph,  268 

Spyker,   Benjamin,  Jr.,   i8 

Stabler,  Edward,  259 

Stackhouse,  Joseph,  260 

Stagecoach  lines,  126 

Stamper,   Joseph,    264 

Stanly,  W.  P.,  266 

Stapler,  John,  259 ;  John,  Jr.,  259 ; 
Thomas,  261 

Stanes,    Thomas,    264 

Starr,  Jacob,  260 ;  James,  260,  261  ; 
Samuel,  260  ;  William,  262 

Steel,  Captain,  25 

Steer,  Joseph,  Jr.,   260 

Stein,  Philip,  268 

Steinmetz,  John,  263 

Stephens,  John,  265  ;  Robert,  265 

Sterrett,   Charles,   220 


INDEX 


293 


Sterrup,  Samuel,  266 

Steuben,  Baron,  71 

Stevenson,  Cornell,  262  ;  Robert,  266  ; 
William,    259 

Stewart,  William,  239 

Stiles,   Edward,   263 ;  Joseph,   264 

Stimble,  Matthias,  265 

Stirredge,  Zach.,  262 

Stockton,  Hannah  (Mrs.  Elias  Boudi- 
not),  38;  Mrs.  Richard  (Annis 
Boudinot),  38,  132,  196;  Richard, 
Jr.,  157;  Robert,  45,  105,  196; 
Samuel  W.,  42 ;  Thomas,  40,  45, 
120,   123,   196,  261 

Stokes,  Thomas,  261 

Stoneburner,  Leonard,  269 

Stout,  Joseph,  45,  196 

Strayly,  George,  264 

Strepee,  George,  267 

Stretch,    Joseph,    266;    Thomas,    267 

Strode,    Richard,   259 

Stultz,  Charles,  264 

Stutzer,  William,   267 

Sugar,  Thomas,   262 

Sullivan,  John,  13,  18,  30,  32 ;  Lieu- 
tenant, 25 

Summers,  Peter,  263 

Sutton,   John,   267 

Swain,  Benjamin,  259 

Swann,  Mrs.  J.  Thompson,  226 

Swanson,    William,    268 

Swanwick,  J.,  263 

Swayne,  Jacob,  245  ;  Thomas,  245 

Sweetman,   Richard,   264 

Sweden,  Treaty  with,  93 

Swem,   Jacob,   264 

Swett,   Benjamin,   259 

Symonds,  Lieutenant,  144 

Syng,    Charles,   264 

Taggert,  John,  263  ;  Robert,  263 

Talbot,  John,  260 ;  Joseph,  262 

Tatum,  John,  260 

Taverns.  Bergen's  (Princeton),  126; 
Bunch  of  Grapes  (Phila.),  128; 
Cross  Keys  (Bristol),  127;  Doctor 
Franklin  (Phila.),  12  ;  French  Arms 
(Trenton),  41,  127;  Hudibras 
(Princeton),  126;  Hull's  (New 
York),  51;  Indian  King  (Phila.), 
127 ;  Indian  Queen  (New  Bruns- 
wick), 127 ;  King's  Arms  (Prince- 
ton), 126;  New  Jersey  College 
(Princeton),  125;  Roubalet's  (New 
York),  SI  ;  Three  Tuns  (Phila.),  24 

Taylor,     Mr.     (of     Princeton),     196; 


Amos,  261  ;  Bernard,  261 ;  Edward, 

157;  John,  175,  266,  267;   Samuel, 

262 
Ten  Kick,  Andrew,  265 
Ten    Eyck,    Andrew,    267 
Ternant,  Jean  Baptiste,  207 
Test,  Benjamin,  260 
Thomas,    Isaac,    261;    Robert,    262; 

Townsend,  260 ;  William,  265,  266 
Thompson,     Daniel,     260 ;     Elizabeth, 

115;     Garland,    268;     Israel,    260; 

James,   263 
Thomson,  Charles,  27,  iii,  159 
Thornton,  James,  259  ;  James,  Jr.,  262 
Thorp,  William,   264 
Tilton,  James,   159,   180,  208 
Timmons,  Dean,  264  1 

Tod,  Alexander,  268 
Todd,  John,  261  ;  John,  Jr.,  262 
Tomkins,   Jacob,   262 
Topham,  Daniel,  263 
Town,  Benjamin,   267 
Townsend,    John,   263 ;    Joseph,    259 
Trenton,  N.  J.,  41,  68,  180,  186,  188, 

189,   193 
Trimble,   Samuel,   259 
"  Triomphe,"  warship,   i 
Trotter,   Daniel,   262 ;   Thomas,   262 ; 

William,    268 
Truman,    Morris,   259 
Tucker,  Samuel,  42,  193 
Tumbull,  William,  264 
Turner,    Robert,    264 ;    Thomas,    264 ; 

William,  268 
"Tusculum,"    Princeton,    N.    J.,    225, 

231 
Tybout,   Andrew,   265 
Tyson,   Daniel,   267 ;   James,   260 

Uber,   David,  265 

Udree,  Daniel,  268 

Updegraff,  Harmon,  261  ;  Samuel,  261 

Van  Berckel,  Peter  John,  216,  2x8, 

221,  222,  223,  231 
Vanderen,    Elias,    268 
Van  Dike,  Henry,  85 
Van   Galder,  Peter,  267 
Vanhom,   Robert,   265 
Vanlaw,    Joseph,    261 
Vannost,  John,   266 
Van  Scyoc,  Benjamin,  265 
Van    Siver,   Jacob,    265 
Vanuxem,  James,  263 
Van    Voorhis,    Daniel,    45,    121,    130, 

196 


294 


INDEX 


Varick,  Richard,  209 
Vaughan,  Thomas,  267 
Venable,  J.,   157 
Vergennes,  Marquis  de,  248 
Verrel,    Robert,    260 
Virginia  cession  of  land,  146 

Wady,  Francis,  267 

Wager,    John,    268;    Philip,    268 

Wagner  &  Blanc,  265 

Walker,   Abel,   262 ;   George,  268 

Wall,  John,  267 

Wcillace,  Burton,  268 

Wallis,  Samuel,  267 

Walmsley,  Thomas,  260;   Silas,   261 

Walsh,   James,  265 

Warder,  Jeremiah,  2(>^ 

Waring,  William,  262 

Warner,  Isaac,  264 

Warrington,   Joseph,   260 

Washington,  George,  4,  7,  22,  40,  92, 

94,  97,  102,  105,  107,  117,  130,  i3ij 

134,    138,    140,    141,    154,    IS9,    161, 

162,    164,    165,    166,    199,   226,   230, 

231;  Mrs.  George,  102,  118 
"Washington,"  packet,   i,  207,  217 
Waterman,   Jesse,   261 
Waters,    Nathaniel,   265 
Watson,  Thomas,  261 
Way,    Andrew,    268 ;     George,    265 ; 

Jacob,  260 ;  Joshua,  261 
Weaver,    Adam,    267 ;     Jacob,     265 ; 

John,   263 
Webb,  John,  262 
Webster,     Hugh,     260 ;     Isaac,     261  ; 

Peter,  263  ;  William,  259 
Weekes,   Refine,  260 
Wells,   John,   267 ;    Richard,    262 
Wengierski,  Count  de,  115 
Wentworth,   William,   265 
West,  Charles,  261  ;  Charles,  Jr.,  262 ; 

James,  265  ;  Joseph,  260 ;  Mrs.  (of 

Princeton),    196 
Wetherill,   Samuel,  260 ;   Samuel,  Jr., 

263 
Wharton,    Isaac,    262 ;    James,    2^7 ; 

John,    268 ;    Joseph,    264 ;    Samuel, 

267 ;   Samuel  Lewis,  267 ;  William, 

268 
Whelen,  Isaac,  263 
Whelpper,    George,   263 
Whitall,  James,  260 ;  James,  Jr.,  259 ; 

Job,  259 
White,     Charles,     267 ;     Isaac,     267 ; 

James,  264  ;  John,  266  ;  Robert,  262  ; 

Samuel,  260 ;   William,  266 


White  Eyes,  George,  122,  148 

Whitehead,  John,  263 

Whiten,  Israel,  264 

Whiteside,   Peter,  263 

Whitson,  Thomas,  259 

Wickersham,  Enoch,  259 

Wiggins,    Thomas,    45,    196 

Wightman,  Cartwright  &  Allenby,  267 

Wigton,   John,    269 

Wikoff,    Isaac,    268 

Wilkins,  Caleb,  265 

Wilkinson,   Francis,   259 ;   James,  269 

Will,   Martin,  268;   William,  266 

Willcox,  Mark,  263 

Willets,  Amos,  260 

Williams,  Edward,  2(>7  ;  George,  262  ; 
Nathan,  262 ;   William,  267 

Williamsburg,  Va.,  and  federal  resi- 
dence,  177,  185 

Williamson,  Hugh,  12,  160,  161,  247 ; 
on  committees,  53,  85,  89,  141,  148, 
189,  208,  225  ;  motions  by,  75,  82, 
137,    180,    183 

Witting,  Charles,  265 ;  Richard,  268 ; 
Thomas,  19,  89,  263 

Wills,  Aaron,   263 

Willson,  Gabriel,  261 

Wilson,  Isaac,  259 ;  James,  96 ;  148, 
161,  173,  176,  178,  229;  John,  264; 
Joseph,   267;   Peter,   157;   William, 

259 
Wiltberger,  Peter,  268 
Winkerer,  John,  268 
Wirtz,    Christian,    268 ;    Christopher, 

Jr.,  268 ;  William,  269 
Wistar,  B.,  265 
Wister,  William,  264 
Witherspoon,  John,  35,  38,   105,   130, 

154,    158,   161,    162,    165,    196,   220, 

225  ;  John,  Jr.,  238 
Withy,   J.,   265 
Witmer,  Lambert,  266 
Wood,   Robert,    261  ;   William,   263 
Woodhouse,   William,   268 
Woodhull,  John,   160 
Woodman,  John,  122 
Woodruff,    Elias,    45,    48,    54,    196; 

George,  157 
Woods,  John,   265 
Woodward,  John,  2(>z 
Worinton,  Abraham,  260 
Worley,  Jacob,  260 
Worstall,   James,   262 
Worril,  Jonathan,  262 
Wren,  Thomas,   157,  270 
Wright,     Andrew,     21  ;     Isaac,     262 ; 


INDEX 


295 


John,    261 ;     Jonathan,     259,     260 ;  262 ;  Joshua,  262 ;   Peter,  260 

Joseph,     III,     112;     Nathan,    259;  Young,  Charles,  266 ;  G.  Marcus   267  • 

Patrick,  268  John,  263;   Richard,   267;   Samuel, 

Wynne,  Isaac,  266  267 

Yard,  Isaiah,  194  Zane,  Isaac  Lane,  259 

Yamall,  Amos,  262;   Eli,  259;  Ellis,  Zantzinger,   Adam,   264 


Date  Due 

i 

Library  Burea 

J  Cal.  No.  1137 

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